John Dobson has revealed that Springboks and Stormers fly-half Manie Libbok was taken straight to hospital after he was stretchered from the pitch on Saturday.
The Stormers boss said that Libbok was in a ‘very bad’ condition as he spoke to the media after what he described as a ‘mortal blow’ as Toulon claimed a 24-14 victory over the Capetoians in Gqeberha.
The result now means that the Stormers have won just two of their opening seven matches across the United Rugby Championship and Investec Champions Cup.
Sacrifice the Champions Cup?
A fact that has raised the debate about whether the Stormers should shift their attention away from the European competition and focus on re-qualifying for the tournament next season through the URC.
“There is an argument, do you sacrifice the Champions Cup in order to qualify for next year in order to sacrifice it for the next year,” the director of rugby explained.
“The problem is this is a mortal blow, the home defeat. A win today and we would have been a lot more comfortable.”
It was a brutal match for the Stormers whose injury woes were worsened with flankers Keke Morabe and Ben-Jason Dixon both forced off the pitch with injuries, the former likely to be sidelined for an extended period.
Lock Ruben van Heerden also sustained a knock while Libbok was the main concern after he was stretchered off the pitch after a sickening tackle by Toulon replacement Yannick Youyoutte who was subsequently red-carded for his actions.
Stormers’ selections rack up
Those concerns add to an already lengthy injury list that includes four Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks.
“The truth is we are running out of cattle,” Dobson admitted.
“It’s a sore changing room, two guys are in hospital. It was a brutal game. We stuck around and the fight was nice but there aren’t many bigger teams, compared to La Rochelle, it was tough.
“For us, and some might say it is an excuse, but not through substitutions or selections, but to play that game without Deon [Fourie], Evan [Roos], Keke [Morabe], BJ [Dixon], Frans [Malherbe], Kitsie [Steven Kitshoff], Damian [Willemse], Sacha [Feinberg-Mnogemzulu], Manie [Libbok] – it’s not insignificant.
“From that aspect, the way we stuck around was good. They were down to 13 men and we could have scored but we gave one away and we could have been in. But I agree, we were probably outmuscled.”
Zoning in on the injuries that occurred, Dobson continued: “Keke has fractured his leg again, second time in nine months, which is really tough. I think it’s the same one but I might be wrong.
“Manie is very bad, he has gone to hospital. Normally with a concussion, you don’t go straight to the hospital – so I’d imagine there is some concern there. BJ failed his second HIA, Ruben is sore but nothing too serious. It is quite a bad day at the office as it is.”
The Stormers are in the United Kingdom for round two of the Champions Cup as they face off against a Harlequins’ outfit that was defeated 23-12 by Racing 92.
That is followed by back-to-back derby games against the Lions and Sharks in the URC before starting the new year at home against the Sale Sharks.
“This is a big blow,” Dobson said of the loss.
“You have got to win the home games in the Champions Cup. We have got a plan for next week, we have got a plan for this critical part of our season until mid-January which we will stick to.”
