Stormers to be boosted by 'platoon flying to Italy'

SPOTLIGHT: The Stormers’ travelling squad will be significantly strengthened as they go further into their four-match tour.

After two wins at home, the Capetonians will kick off their tour with a match against Scarlets in Llanelli on Friday night before they head to Italy for matches against Zebre and Benetton.

They will finish their road trip in Ireland with a tough outing against Munster.

John Dobson already has Sacha Feinberg Mngomezulu and Damian Willemse ready for battle against the Scarlets, but more Springboks will be on their way to bolster the squad.

Salmaan Moerat and Warrick Gelant will return from their respective injuries, while Cobus Reinach might only be available for the Benetton match after he requested some family time.

Dobson also revealed that several other players will be joining the squad late, after they needed to sort out their visas.

“There’s a platoon flying to Italy,” said Dobson.

“Salmaan is back, and Warrick is back. Those guys are coming to Italy.”

On the visas, Dobson added: “Clinton Swart, Oli Kebble, Adre Smith and one of the physios. Adre came in today [Thursday].

“It’s not a problem with the visa. Oli Kebble joined us [in the pre-season] very late, and Clinton [on loan from the Pumas] also joined us very late, so it took a while because you’ve got to get Schengen and UK visas.”

Meanwhile, Reinach hasn’t had time to settle into his new surroundings.

“I think he needed to hang some pictures,” Dobbo joked. “He just moved to Cape Town.

“If you work it out from when he left Montpellier, he has been in [Springbok] camp literally the whole time.

“He will join us at some stage on the tour. Whether it will be this week, next week or the week after, but he literally wanted to get home for a bit, which we are good with.

“His break program will look a bit different to Sacha and Damian’s, but he will join us on the tour. I think definitely for Benetton.

“I will chat to him after tomorrow [Friday] night and see how he feels about next week, but it’s definitely Benetton.”

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