VIDEO: 'Mortal blow' for Stormers; with players in hospital

REACTION: Two Stormers players ended in hospital as their season of horrors took another turn for the worse at the weekend.

Having moved their Champions Cup opener against three-time European champions Toulon to Port Elizabeth to accommodate the Sevens in Cape Town, the Stormers suffered a “big blow” with a 14-24 loss to the powerful French outfit.

The home side had led 14-10 at half-time, but two tries from the visitors in the second half saw them come from behind to claim the spoils on the day in Port Elizabeth.

It was a brutal and often spiteful encounter, especially in a second half that produced four cards – one red and three yellow.

Yannick Youyoutte was red-carded for head-to-head contact, Willie Engelbrecht (yellow – cynical foul, collapsing a maul near the line), Marius Domon (yellow – cynical foul, slapping the ball down) and Leolin Zas (yellow – foul play, shoulder charge to the head).

“You have to win your home games in the European Cup,” Director of Rugby John Dobson said of a team that is also struggling in the United Rugby Championship – where they are hovering outside the top 10 (13th) with just two wins.

It doesn’t get any easier.

With a growing injury list the Stormers head to London next week, where they will face Harlequins at Twickenham Stoop in a Champions Cup Round Two encounter.

Focus then shifts back to the URC – with home matches against the Lions (December 21) and Sharks (December 28), before the next round of Euro Cup encounters.

That will see them host Sale Sharks in Cape Town in January 11, before a trip to France and an encounter with Racing 92 at La Defense Arena in Paris on January 18.

Dobson added that they will stick to their selection ‘plan’ through to the end of January, despite the latest setback.

(Article continues below the injury update….)

“The problem is, this [loss] is a mortal blow,” the Stormers boss said.

“The truth is, we are running out of cattle [players],” Dobson added.

He confirmed that two players – flyhalf Manie Libbok (concussion) and flank Keke Morabe (fractured leg) – were admitted to hospital.

Morabe suffered his second leg fracture in nine months, while Libbok was carted off the field and sent to hospital after a sickening blow to the head by Toulon replacement Yannick Youyoutte in the 72nd minute.

Utility forward Ben-Jason Dixon also suffered a concussion and looks set to miss next week’s trip to London.

Lock Ruben van Heerden is ‘sore’ but nothing serious.

“It is quite a bad day at the office,” the Stormers boss said.

The latest injury setbacks a season of horror injuries that include props Steven Kitshoff (neck surgery) and Frans Malherbe (ankle), lock Salmaan Moerat (knee surgery), loose forward Deon Fourie (shoulder surgery), loose forward Evan Roos (shoulder surgery), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (knee procedure and concussion) and Damian Willemse (groin surgery).

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