DHL Stormers coach John Dobson confirmed the worst news that any Springbok fan would want to hear: that lock Salmaan Moerat has torn his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and is likely to be out for six to nine months.
That means Moerat will miss the rest of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship season and is in doubt for the upcoming Rugby World Cup which will start in September next year. While he should make a recovery in time, ACL injuries are notorious at times and his progress will determine whether his World Cup dream stays alive.
“It’s a stratospheric injury,” Dobson said, “That’s 36 weeks. It’s really a blow but we hope that good things happen at his rehab but it means he could be in doubt for the Rugby World Cup.”
Moerat made his breakthrough into the Bok squad this year and has two tests under the belt. He is widely seen as a candidate for the wider Springbok squad to go to the World Cup and is a future star, having captained the Stormers as well.
Now his hopes are in the fate of the rehab team and any knee injury can encounter setbacks, so both Moerat, the Stormers and the Springboks will be hoping he recovers well and gets enough game time in if he is to have a chance of going to the World Cup.
Moerat injured himself in the win over London Irish in the Stormers’ Heineken European Cup match last weekend in Cape Town.
Coach Dobson confirmed young lock Gary Porter would be out for “three to four weeks”.
“He is a tough customer, and that was shown when he played for 31 minutes against Clermont with a broken rib.”
The Stormers face their arch-rivals, the Vodacom Bulls in their URC derby on Friday night.