Stormers sweating on playmaker following injury in training
INJURY UPDATE: Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson revealed that one of his playmakers got injured during a training session.
Flyhalf Jurie Matthee is sidelined with an undisclosed injury but could return sooner than expected.
Dobson revealed that the initial prognosis for his return was three weeks, but that Matthee could be ready to face Glasgow Warriors next week.
The Stormers mentor, however, admitted that he would’ve loved to give Matthee game time against Connacht this weekend.
Dobson named a six-two forward-heavy bench without a specialist flyhalf, which indicates that Damian Willemse, who is named on the right wing, will play the backup role should he be required to.
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“They said three weeks at first, but I think it’s a bit better than that,” Dobson said.
“There’s a chance he could be ready for Glasgow.
“It’s a pity because we wanted him to play this game to get some game time under his belt, but then he injured himself in training.
“But it’s not as serious as we thought…just a couple of weeks.”
The Stormers welcomed back lock Ruben van Heerden, who will feature off the bench in his return match following thumb surgery over a month ago.
Dobson admitted that it was tough managing his limited second-row resources and that Van Heerden’s return couldn’t come at a better time.
“So important, we were on paraffin fumes there [in the lock department].
“We were overplaying [JD Schickerling and Adré Smith]. They’ve been managed, medically treated, just to stay on the field.
“Luckily, against Toulon, we could put JD on the bench. Ruben [van Heerden] comes back now, and we’ve got Salmaan [Moerat] back in a couple of weeks.
“If you look at that [winning] run we started – once we brought JD Schickerling and Adre Smith off the bench, it’s hard for teams to live with that, or it could be vice versa – that quality of lock roster.
“It’s just the right time for them to be back.
“[Seabelo] Senatla is not back this week, but he’s also an important player for us when he returns, but we’re hitting in the right direction.”
