Is this the end of the road for Brannas?
INJURY UPDATE: Stormers defence coach Norman Laker provided a bleak update regarding veteran forward Deon Fourie’s latest injury concern.
The Bok utility forward went off injured in the 11th minute following a croc roll by Ulster captain and lock Ian Henderson.
Fourie initially continued to soldier on, but was taken off the pitch minutes later and replaced by Paul de Villiers.
Henderson was subsequently yellow-carded before being upgraded to a 20-minute red card following a bunker review.
Fourie struggled with several injuries in the past two seasons.
He suffered leg and bicep injuries, respectively, and one has to wonder how much more his body can handle given the type of game he plays and his age profile.
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Laker confirmed that Fourie will return to South Africa and undergo scans on his knee to determine the extent of the damage.
“He [Deon Fourie] will fly back to South Africa and get a scan on his knee for diagnosis of the injury,” Laker said.
“The doctors haven’t given us any feedback as of yet.”
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Laker highlighted another instance where Evan Roos could’ve suffered the same fate as Fourie later in the game, and feels that there should be consequences for Henderson’s actions.
“On the field when the incident occurred, we felt it should’ve been a red card,” Laker said.
“Obviously, he first received a yellow [card] before it got upgraded to red following the bunker review.
“And now we have lost one of our team captains, which is quite disappointing.
“If you look back at that game, they cleaned out Evan [Roos] the same way; luckily, Evan was a lone cleaner.
“Then we came in from the side from which we conceded the penalty against us, which could’ve been for us.
“But it’s not nice to lose one of your top and most capped players in the team with an injury like that, so I do think there must be consequences.”
In the 2023 World Cup Final, Fourie replaced Bongi Mbonambi after the Bok hooker suffered the same fate following a similar clearout by All Black flanker Shannon Frizzel three minutes into the match.
Mbonambi returned ahead of schedule for the Sharks after four months following a successful surgery.
Should Fourie’s injury be of the same extent and rule him out for the rest of the Stormers’ URC season, it could see the veteran forward call it quits on an illustrious career.
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