VIDEO: Stormers pay dear price for bonus-point win
INJURY UPDATE: Hooker has become a ‘flash point’ for the Stormers, after yet another injury.
The Stormers scored a convincing 32-7 bonus-point win over Glasgow Warriors in Cape Town on Friday, to move into second place on the United Rugby Championship standings.
However, the impressive win came at a dear price.
Stormers coach John Dobson revealed that seasoned hooker Siyabonga Ntubeni, who hobbled off in the 50th minute, suffered a ‘significant’ Achilles injury.
“Scarra [Ntubeni] is in a moon boot,” Dobson said, adding that they will know more about the extent of the veteran hooker’s injury after scans.
“It does not look trivial.”
The problem for the Stormers is that Andre-Hugo Venter and Chad Solomon are already long-term injury absentees.
It leaves the Stormers with 21-year-old rookie Jean-Jacques Kotze as their only fit hooker in the URC squad.
Master poacher Deon Fourie will most likely move from flank to hooker to plug the gap left by the latest injury setback.
On the flip side is the impressive win, the seventh consecutive home victory for the Stormers.
Well done Evan Roos, that’s how you react to dissapoinment and make sure you cant be ignored !
— Rassie Erasmus (@RassieRugby) April 22, 2022
The win sees them move past Glasgow and into the second position on the standings, ahead of their showdown with first-placed Leinster at home next week.
Dobson described the second half as the team’s best performance of the season.
The Scottish outfit, Glasgow, admitted they could not live with the physicality and tempo of the Stormers game.
The coach also paid credit to his captain, Steven Kitshoff, for making some “really good” decisions around penalties and line-out moves.
“We showed some character,” he said of the team’s composure when the visitors scored an early try to take a 7-0 lead.
The coach said Glasgow, with 17 internationals and a couple of British and Irish Lions, was a formidable foe.
Yet the Stormers scored 32 unanswered points to take a huge leap toward the play-offs.
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