Evan Roos arrives on crutches at a Stormers training session this week. Picture: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
There was some very positive news on the injury front for the Stormers and their star eighthman Evan Roos, with it being tentatively confirmed that the Springbok World Cup hopeful would not be out for as long as initially feared.
Roos limped off the field almost in tears during last week’s United Rugby Championship (URC) match against Ulster, after a double cleanout from loose forwards Duane Vermeulen and Nick Timoney ended with the Stormers player twisting his knee badly on his way down.
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Stormers head coach John Dobson had sparked fears that Roos could be out for the remainder of the club rugby season, which would have put his Boks aspirations in jeopardy.
But on Tuesday assistant coach Dawie Snyman said a scan had revealed that he may be out for only a few months and back for the end-of-season run in.
“Evan has gone for his scan, and luckily it’s not too serious. It’s his medial ligament that was injured, so at least it’s not the anterior cruciate ligament,” said Snyman.
“It’s actually positive news for us. He will be out for a while, but not too long. I don’t think he will need an operation. If everything goes well, he should be back for the play-off games at the end of the season.”
The Stormers received a further boost on the injury front ahead of their URC clash with the Sharks in Durban on Saturday afternoon with news that Clayton Blommetjies and Junior Pokomela, who both withdrew from the side on match day before the Ulster game, would be available for selection.
“Clayton is doing well and trained with us today. He woke up with an infection (before the Ulster match), and we didn’t want to take a chance,” explained Snyman.
“We took Junior with in the hope that he would come through and be fine to play, but he didn’t pass the tests and had to withdraw. But he trained well today (Tuesday).
“JJ (Kotze) and Jean-Luc (du Plessis) have concussion (from during the Ulster match), so they won’t be available this weekend.”
Flyhalf Manie Libbok, who was injured during the Stormers’ Champions Cup game against London Irish a few weeks ago, is also in line to return this weekend although he still has to pass a few tests, while wing sensation Seabelo Senatla is back and ready to go.
“Seabelo is a great player to have in the squad. He always brings a lot of energy and lifts the team about 10%. He is always positive, so we are really glad to have him back,” said Snyman.
“He is a good player who has been a bit unlucky with injuries, but he will definitely drive the energy for us. He is naturally fit and has worked unbelievably hard to get back.”
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