Big boost for Stormers — Malherbe, Fouche and Libbok ready to play again

It is almost a miracle that the Stormers will be heading into their final United Rugby Championship (URC) pool match of the season relatively injury free, when they take on Cardiff at the Cape Town Stadium on Friday night.

They do still have a few players out, with Deon Fourie, Keke Morabe, Ruhan Nel, Lizo Gqoboka, and Imad Khan on the long term injury list, while Brok Harris was forced into a slightly early retirement after his knee injury against Benetton a few weeks ago cut short his farewell.

But it is a far cry from the horror 15-player injury list that the Stormers released in February, and the good news comes at the perfect time as they prepare for the competition knockouts.

At a Stormers press conference on Monday Stormers assistant coach Norman Laker said that the team had come through their 48-12 thumping of Dragons over the past weekend with no extra knocks and that everyone would be up for selection for Friday’s match.

That means that Springbok flyhalf Manie Libbok should be in the frame for his return from injury, while they will receive a big boost to their front row stocks.

Neethling Fouche has been cleared to return after his red card against Ulster at the end of March saw him initially banned for four games, while Frans Malherbe could be in the mix as well after his recent back injury.

However, despite having missed three experienced props, including Harris, over the last few weeks, the Stormers back up brigade have performed impressively and will be giving them a run for their money when it comes to selection time.

Fit and firing

“(Almost) everyone is fully fit and it’s the first time this season that we can select everyone (not with long term injuries) in the squad,” said Laker.

“Neethling is back, he finished his tackle school. But we are really happy with how the other guys stepped up over this time.

“Vernon Matongo, an old campaigner in Ali Vermaak, Sazi Sandi who hasn’t played much this season, and Zach (Porthen, former Junior Springbok captain) who made his debut this weekend.

“They really stepped up to the plate as defenders, ball carriers and in the scrums, so we are very happy as management with how they performed.”

This will likely be the Stormers final home match of the season, as if they beat Cardiff they will secure fifth place on the URC log, which means they will have to travel for their quarterfinal game and it would take a few upsets for them to host a semifinal.

The team will thus be eager to put in a big performance to give their home fans something to celebrate, while also building good momentum ahead of the knockouts.

“Any game for us at the Cape Town Stadium is always special, whether it’s our first or last, because the amount of people that come out to support us is phenomenal,” admitted Laker.

“It is probably our last home game of the season. But we are not going to look at it as that, we are just going to go out and try perform at our best to give back to the crowd that has supported us the whole season through thick and thin.”