Stormers head coach John Dobson is concerned that flanker Deon Fourie will miss the rest of the season after suffering a knee injury on Saturday.
The Cape Town-based side succumbed to La Rochelle in the last-16 of the Champions Cup following an agonising 22-21 reversal.
They also suffered a number of injury issues with Ben-Jason Dixon, Hacjivah Dayimani, Salmaan Moerat and Leolin Zas all being forced off.
Season-ending
But Dobson’s assessment of Fourie’s was particularly alarming, calling it “serious” before speculating that “it could be the [end of his] season.”
Even with such a high attrition rate, the Stormers managed to secure an improbable victory.
Manie Libbok scored the game-winning kick thanks to a touchdown by Suleiman Hartzenberg after La Rochelle had rallied from a 16-0 deficit to lead 22-16.
It was precisely the same situation as the match from the pool stage earlier in the competition. Although Libbok was successful that time, the Springboks fly-half’s attempt this time was noticeably ineffective.
“It was an unachievable kick.” It was impossible in those winds, Dobson remarked.
The Stormers failed to match their efforts from their first season in the Champions Cup when they reached the quarter-finals, but the head coach praised his team’s performance.
“What made me really proud, was how they tried to score that try. Damian [Willemse] could’ve scored in the corner, but tried to come in,” he said.
“A lot of teams would have just taken the try. We didn’t want to score a maul try, even though our maul looked reasonably promising.
“We were playing the champions, completely disrupted with injuries and we were worrying about where we are going to score. That maturity under that pressure.
“Every other team in the world is mauling it. We would normally maul it and ask Manie to kick it. That sort of composure and maturity was really cool.”
Looking towards URC run-in
Dobson also believes that the Stormers can take plenty of positives after running the two-time champions so tight as they concentrate on winning the United Rugby Championship once more.
The more we can engage in play and gain these experiences, the better. Two games in a row, we have faced off against what is perhaps the greatest club team in the world. We may claim that because it ended one-one in the series,” he remarked.
“The Champions Cup is currently an added bonus. About a year or two separates us, just in terms of experience. Clearly, we have not arrived yet.
“The game against the Ospreys would have been compromised by the possibility of a very difficult week next week.” This struck me as a benefit. All we wanted was to prove to our fans that we are the best club rugby team. We’re not too far from the head table.
