The DHL Stormers will be heading to Dublin in search of the perfect game needed to beat Leinster in Saturday’s Vodacom URC semi-final without their first choice halfbacks and first choice wing but it was nonetheless not all doom and gloom for them on the injury front on Monday.
In addition to the injuries that will keep ace flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and the speedy wing Seabelo Senatla out of the last four clash at the AVIVA Stadium, the Stormers also had question marks after their 44-21 win over Cardiff in the DHL Stadium quarterfinal at the weekend over the fitness of experienced inside centre Dan du Plessis and Ruben van Heerden.
However, both reported to training on Monday as the Stormers finish off their preparations at home before boarding their flight to Dublin on Monday evening and according to forwards coach Rito Hlungwani both will be on the plane.
“Ruben is travelling and Dan is also travelling,” said Hlungwani. “Seabelo suffered a concussion so unfortunately he won’t be coming with us and we all know about the injury to Sacha. He will be out for a while. But we knew that on Saturday night (after the Cardiff game) so while both Seabelo and Sacha are a big loss, in terms of this week it is started okay (on the injury front).”
The Stormers could have got around losing Du Plessis, had it come to that, by selecting Jonathan Roche or otherwise moving Damian Willemse into the midfield, but his longstanding partnership with Ruhan Nel means his availability for the Leinster game is a big boost. Against Cardiff the centre combination equalled the record for number of appearances for a Stormers midfield pairing, with the previous holders of the record being the former Springbok duo of De Wet Barry and Marius Joubert.
Du Plessis was paired with Nel in the win over the Vodacom Bulls in the 2022 URC final so there is much needed experience of big games on his side, and with two younger, less experienced players in Imad Khan and Jurie Matthee lining up at halfback having Du Plessis, who has captained the Stormers in the past, alongside will be invaluable in a semi-final. He wasn’t in his best form against Cardiff but then he was playing through a niggle in the second half.
Had Van Heerden been absent it would have been a bigger blow though to the Stormers, as having quality locks on the bench and in the starting team is a big part of their game model. The depth at forward is one of the Stormers strengths going into this game and having Adre Smith, van Heerden and Salmaan Moerat all in the match day squad will be a crucial part of the Stormers’ challenge.
Of course being on the plane doesn’t mean that Du Plessis and Van Heerden have been cleared to play but the fact they are travelling is a positive for a Stormers team that knows it has a mountain to climb against a Leinster team that hasn’t been beaten at the AVIVA Stadium this season.
Hlungwani did not have further details of Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s injury, but he did confirm the Bok “will be out for quite a while as he has an ankle injury”. It is understood that Feinberg-Mngomezulu will be out for three months which puts him in a race against time to be ready to take any part in South Africa’s Greatest Rivalry Series showdown against New Zealand over the second half of August and the first part of September.