The Stormers hope to have Frans Malherbe back to combat the physicality of Duane Vermeulen and his fellow Ulster heavyweights on Saturday in Cape Town.

Malherbe has been sidelined with a neck injury, but Stormers defence coach Norman Laker has confirmed that the Springbok prop is back at training.

His return would be a huge scrum boost for the Stormers against Ulster at Cape Town Stadium. The Irish outfit are second in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

Speaking after the Stormers’ 40-3 caning of Cardiff on Sunday, head coach John Dobson said: “Ulster are a very big, physical and hard-carrying team [and] are probably more direct than Cardiff, and they are at the top of the URC.

“We would need to be more accurate at the set piece than we were. Maybe a guy like Frans is back in the mix.”

Ulster boss Dan McFarland says he is readying his front row to face Malherbe, and Laker told media on Tuesday: “Frans did train with us today but we still await a final decision [on his availability].”

Meanwhile, Laker has warned highly-rated Stormers No 8 Evan Roos not to get sucked into a personal battle with Vermeulen, in what is shaping up to be a highlight of Saturday’s clash.

“Duane is world class … I don’t think a lot of unions around the world would contract him at his age if he wasn’t,” the assistant coach said. “Evan has played against Duane before at the Bulls, and he is looking forward to it.

“But he can’t just perform against a Bok. A guy like Duane performs week in and week out, and you can’t just perform well against a player like him and just say, ‘I can be the Bok 8′.”

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