VIDEO: Stormers' long-term injury list grows
SPOTLIGHT: The Stormers have added another big name to their long-term injury list as they prepare to face Benetton in their United Rugby Championship Round Four clash on Saturday.
Head coach John Dobson revealed that Bok prop Lizo Gqoboka will be out of action for five months after suffering a triceps injury in the 9-20 defeat to Glasgow Warriors last week.
“We haven’t started the season well in terms of injuries. Lizo has torn his triceps and I think he had an operation on Monday, so he is gone for five months,” said Dobson.
“It’s a blow because he was fitting in really well. Sti Sithole arrived here {in Treviso] this [Friday] morning.”
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Dobson added: “He [Gqoboka] has been magic in the pre-season as a person. Players like him, Dan [Du Plessis], Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] and Salmaan [Moerat] were guys we were banking on a couple of weeks ago, but they are now out for extended periods of time.
“It’s a third or a quarter of your team out quite early, but one thing we have created over the last year is a bit more depth.
“The good news for us is that Suleiman [Hartzenberg] is coming back to strength and he should be back by the end of the tour.”
The Stormers received bad news early on Friday when Feinberg-Mngomezulu was ruled out of the Benetton clash with what the Stormers called a “minor ankle injury”. Ruhan Nel returns to start in the No.12 jersey against Benetton
“It’s a big blow. The guy won man-of-the-match awards in the first two games. We are thin in that area [midfield] at the moment with Damian [Willemse] and Manie [Libbok] gone. Cornel {Smit] and Dan are injured, Suleiman is injured and even Jean-Luc [du Plessis] is battling a little bit.
“It’s a big curve ball given how he [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] is playing. I think he has been the find of the season so far for us. He made one or two errors last week, but he also did one or two exceptional things.
“We hoped until this [Friday] morning that he was playing but in fact, he has just gone off for an MRI so we will find out how long he is out for a bit later.
“It is disruptive but Ruhan [Nel] has played a few games at No.12 for us and he will know how to manage it well and he will help Ben Loader a lot.”
