The DHL Stormers celebrated a bonus-point win against Benetton in Stellenbosch last night, but their mood was dampened as they await updates on injuries to four key players.

The Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) title-holders turned on the style in the second half to claim a 38-22 victory over the Italian tourists at Danie Craven Stadium in the final round of league action.

The win consolidated the third-placed Stormers’ spot in the top four on the URC log after temporarily taking back second place, before Ulster beat Edinburgh in Belfast later on.

But, speaking post-match in Stellenbosch, Stormers head coach John Dobson said the defending champions are counting the costs of their result after losing locks Ruben van Heerden and Ernst van Rhyn to injuries in the first half and winger Seabelo Senatla was concussed in the second.

Van Heerden and Van Rhyn both appeared to suffer knee injuries and they were both on crutches as the Stormers lifted the South African Shield after the match.

Dobson was unable to confirm the exact details but speedster Suleiman Hartzenberg, who has featured regularly for the Stormers, also injured himself playing for Western Province in a 25-24 defeat to the Pumas in Nelspruit.

“It was an expensive day for us,” Dobson told reporters last night. “To lose two locks in one half … Suleiman looks like he suffered a serious injury in the Currie Cup game. It was a very pricey day.

“Senatla is off to the hospital where they will keep him overnight, it’s concussion, he could be out for two weeks.

“They [Van Heerden and Van Rhyn] all haven’t been scanned yet but looks like two knees. Luckily we had cover and BJ [Dixon] did brilliantly, but it was expensive.”

As a result of the injuries, Ben-Jason Dixon played 50 minutes off the bench when he came on to replace Van Rhyn, who was on for Van Heerden.

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The Stormers have an extra week before the URC quarterfinals, but that might not be enough time for Adre Smith to get match fit. “Adre [Smith] trains this week but won’t play in the Currie Cup this week, [but might] play the week of the [URC] quarterfinal,” said Dobson.

Dobson said the plan with the free week would be to give his players an opportunity to refresh after a taxing end to the round-robin campaign.

“We will know by the end of Saturday who we are playing. We will do some work on Monday and Tuesday, but it will be pretty chilled, and put in a nice high-speed session before the long weekend.

“Our most important thing now is to freshen up. So we will get some detail planted, get a nice sweat in on Wednesday and then give them the long weekend. Less is more at this stage.”