Experienced Stormers second-row JD Schickerling could make his comeback from injury when they return to action in the United Rugby Championship (URC) against Connacht in Cape Town on Saturday.
Schickerling has been sidelined for the past two months with a shoulder injury but has recovered and could slot into the second-row alongside Ruben van Heerden, who is set to make his 50th appearance for the men from the Cape.
The addition of Schickerling to the Stormers line-up will be a shot in the arm for their lineout as he impressed when giving the calls at the set-piece earlier in the season.
Mixed injury news
Stormers defence coach Norman Laker revealed that the 29-year-old has returned to training this week and will be considered for selection for the Connacht encounter, although they will still be without the services of star fly-half Manie Libbok and speedster Seabelo Senatla.
“JD is training fully at the moment. So far so good,” said Laker on Monday. “Manie’s not back yet, and Senatla has unfortunately been sick this week.
“We first have to see what he’s like on Tuesday when he comes in. He can’t train fully, he’s just sick.”
Meanwhile, Stormers skipper Salmaan Moerat missed their last URC match against Ulster due to a foot injury while fellow lock Adre Smith is still on loan at Japan Rugby League One outfit Toyota Verblitz while loose forward Ben-Jason Dixon is struggling with a wrist injury.
“Adre is six months straight in Japan. Ben-Jason is still out for a while,” Laker said.
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The Stormers are currently in 10th position in the URC and are in a race to make the tournament’s play-offs and can ill afford to suffer another defeat with further home matches against Benetton, Dragons and Scarlets looming on the horizon after their clash with Connacht.
Although Van Heerden is delighted to play a half century of matches for the Stormers he downplayed its importance preferring instead to focus on his side’s push to reach the URC play-offs.
‘By no means do I want to make it about me’
“It’s not a time to look at personal accolades,” he said of his impending milestone. “It’s special playing 50 games for the Stormers, but by no means do I want to make it about me.
“The position we’re in, much like Connacht (in 13th place), is that we are trying to fight our way into the top eight.
“We’re under no illusions that Connacht is going to come out firing and it’s going to be a very tough game on Saturday.
“I think the overall feeling in the group is that we know that we are a good team, and we know exactly what we are capable of doing. We also have some perspective around games that we narrowly lost this season.
“If things had just worked out slightly differently, the log would have looked a lot different,” Van Heerden explained.
“We can’t change what happened, but we have only four games left and we’re looking forward to what we can achieve in those games.
“We know exactly what we need to do. We need maximum points out of the next four games and we’re essentially playing knockout rugby. The desire is always there – no one wants to lose, trust me.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/stormers-give-injury-update-on-star-forward-ahead-of-crucial-urc-run-in
