Stormers boss John Dobson is fearing the worst but hoping for the best after seeing Deon Fourie hobble off the pitch in his side’s 34-29 United Rugby Championship (URC) victory over Connacht.

Dobson unloaded his forward substitutes in the 62nd minute of the match, which saw veteran Fourie replace up-and-comer Paul de Villiers, who had impressed in his first start for the side.

Deon Fourie’s injury

However, the 38-year-old lasted just one passage of play before he was forced off the pitch, suffering another setback, having just come back from injury.

Fourie finally realised his dream of representing the Springboks in 2022 as he became the oldest debutant for South Africa at the age of 35 and would go on to play a pivotal role at the World Cup the next year, playing most of the final at hooker after Bongi Mbonambi was forced off injured.

Injury denied him the opportunity to add to his cap tally in 2024 but he was invited to the Springbok alignment camps this year.

But he now looks set for another lengthy spell on the sidelines, according to Dobson, who believes that this setback puts his career at a crossroads.

“I don’t know where this leaves us or him to be honest,” the Stormers boss told the media after the match.

“It looks like a broken tibia. We haven’t scanned or X-rayed him yet, but Keke [Korabe] was out for how long, close to a year with that, so you’d have to do the maths and realise we’re probably at a crossroads.

“I hope that is not the case.”

He added: “Often with those things it’s the nature of the break… if it’s a clean one it could be ten months.”

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Not ending his career on a golf cart

After a career with only a handful of injuries and none being long-term, this is now the second long-term injury for the evergreen forward who suffered a serious ACL tear.

He sustained that knee injury against La Rochelle in the Champions Cup and Dobson revealed that the livewire back-rower was hellbent on not ending his career on a golf cart, a mindset the Stormers boss hopes Fourie still has.

“He said to me after La Rochelle that he didn’t want to end his career on a golf cart,” Dobson remarked.

“Knowing Deon, he will say I am not finishing it like that. Let’s hope.”

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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/stormers-boss-hopes-springboks-star-is-not-finished-after-horror-injury