The Stormers had a near-perfect night out in their nine-try victory over Zebre on Sunday, but Andre-Hugo Venter’s injury has coach John Dobson concerned over their depth at hooker.
Dobson’s men rounded off a great weekend for South African teams by joining the Vodacom Bulls, Sharks and Lions in beating overseas opposition at home.
In their first-ever match in Stellenbosch, the Stormers ran in five tries in the first half to take a 33-0 lead, which led Dobson to make a few changes at the break to manage Scarra Ntubeni and Warrick Gelant.
Unfortunately for Venter, who replaced Ntubeni at hooker, he suffered an injury and had to be helped off the field.
The promising 20-year-old was on crutches after the match, but further clarity over his injury will be revealed this week as the Stormers prepare for their next URC match at Cape Town Stadium against Cardiff.
“We still have to send Andre-Hugo for scans but unfortunately it doesn’t look good,” Dobson said post-match.
“He came off with an ankle injury. We thought we could give him some game time seeing we were so far ahead, but unfortunately that didn’t work out and it could be problematic for us if he is ruled out for some time as we are a bit thin at hooker.
“We don’t know the extent of the injury as yet but it looked consequential.”
If Venter is ruled out for a long period, Chad Solomon, who has been playing for Western Province in the Currie Cup, would be next in line to be called up to the URC squad.
The Stormers lost Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi to the Sharks last year, while other promising talents such as Dan Jooste (Sharks) and Schalk Erasmus (Bulls) also sought greener pastures.
There is now the real potential that Sunday’s match-day skipper, Deon Fourie, may have to be considered as an emergency backup in the position. Fourie doubled as a hooker during his first stint at the Stormers and continued to do so while he played in France, but loose forward is very much his first-choice position.
Fourie admitted that seeing Ntubeni return to the field as Venter’s replacement made him slightly uncomfortable with the thought that he may have to go into the middle of the scrum.
“I said to Scarra that he mustn’t get injured, if he did I would have had to move to hooker and I didn’t fancy having to wake up tomorrow with my body feeling sore like it does when you play in the front row of the scrum,” Fourie said.
“I still throw in with the hookers during training and do some of the other basics of hooker play, but it is a long time since I have played in the position.
“When I was overseas I played a few times when there was an emergency, and I can do that now if it is necessary. But, hopefully, it won’t be necessary as we do have some other good hookers, like Chad, in the queue.”
The Stormers will return to Cape Town Stadium against Cardiff on Sunday. The match kicks off at 2pm.
Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
