By Gavin Rich.
Damian Willemse looks set to play for the DHL Stormers in Saturday’s penultimate Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with Munster and the Cape side could be further boosted by the return of what coach John Dobson describes as two of his team’s best players.
Springbok No 8 Evan Roos and wing Leolin Zas have both been back in training for a couple of weeks now after they suffered injuries earlier in the season and they could play a role in Saturday’s match at DHL Stadium. That is good news for the Stormers as Deon Fourie, their ace fetcher and perhaps their most influential player, will be out for a few more weeks with the eye socket injury that forced him to miss the Heineken Champions Cup quarterfinal against Exeter.
With the Stormers needing to win to remain safe in their quest for a second spot finish behind log leaders Leinster, Dobson will be wanting to go as full strength as possible against Munster on Saturday, so he will be pleased that Springbok Willemse’s hamstring injury that caused some consternation at Sandy Park last week looks okay.
“Yes, he trained. I think it was a little tightness but nothing serious,” said assistant coach Rito Hlungwani.
Dobson said after the game against Exeter that he was concerned about Willemse’s hamstring and that he had wanted to pull him off at one point. Willemse though didn’t listen.
“We wanted to pull him off. He had a sore hamstring. We thought we should cut our losses because we’ve got Munster this week and we’re not going to win this game. But he refused to come off,” said Dobson.
“That’s good and bad. It means he’s not listening to us but it also means that he wants to keep fighting. And that’s one of the reasons we love him. It speaks more to his character than anything else.”
Roos should make a difference to the Stormers’ efficiency in the tight loose if he gets to play against Munster, but it is not yet clear if he will be playing in the URC or perhaps making his comeback playing for Western Province in the Currie Cup game that will be played as a curtain-raiser to the URC clash.
“He could come off the bench (for the Stormers) or play (for WP) in the Currie Cup. That’s really important to us as we go into the sharp end of the competition. Having Zassie and Evan back next week will be good for us. They were probably two of our best players last season.”
We will know the answer to both those questions on Friday, which is when the Stormers and WP teams will be announced.