Stormers suffer Roos blow

TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson has made several changes to his matchday squad for Saturday’s United Rugby Championship quarterfinal against Glasgow Warriors in Scotland.

Fullback Warrick Gelant makes his return for the Stormers at Scotstoun Stadium.

Gelant had been rested for the last league fixture of the season and makes his return at fullback, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu moving to inside centre to link up with Dan du Plessis in midfield.

The only other change to the backline sees Ben Loader come into the starting line-up on the left wing.

In the forward pack, Evan Roos has been ruled out with a concussion picked up in training this week and is replaced at openside flank by Willie Engelbrecht.

There is an all-new front row in the form of Brok Harris, Joseph Dweba and Frans Malherbe who all featured from the replacements bench in the win against the Lions last week.

Connor Evans and a fit-again Paul de Wet are included among the replacements, along with last week’s starting front row of Sti Sithole, Andre-Hugo Venter and Neethling Fouche.

Dobson said that his team is determined to rise to the challenge of playing their first away knock-out fixture in the competition.

“We know that it will take a top performance to stay alive in this competition and that is a challenge we have embraced.

“We will have to do it without a number of our frontline players due to injuries, but it is a testament to the depth we have built and the quality of our squad that there is plenty of belief.

“Despite having almost a full team ruled out, we have built up some good momentum heading into the play-offs.”

Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Willie Engelbrecht, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Brok Harris.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Connor Evans, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Jean-Luc du Plessis.

Date: Saturday, July 8
Venue: Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow
Kick-off: 19.35 (18.35 GMT; 20.35 SA time)
Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland) and Peter Martin (Ireland)
TMO: Mark Patton (Ireland)