The Stormers have been given a shot in the arm ahead of their final few matches of the United Rugby Championship season with Springboks playmaker Manie Libbok returning from injury.
The 27-year-old has not played for the Stormers since sustaining a Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) injury against Leinster in January.
Libbok avoided surgery and has been rehabilitating the injury with an eye on returning before the close of the season, and has seemingly done so successfully.
Manie Libbok boost
Stormers director of rugby John Dobson has confirmed that the playmaker is ‘training properly’ following the lay-off but admits that this weekend’s clash against Benetton is too soon for a return.
“He won’t make Benetton, but he’ll be available after that,” Dobson said.
In an interview with IOL’s Michael Sherman earlier this month, Libbok set his sights on the clash against Cardiff – the Stormers’ final game of the season – with Dobson’s comments suggesting that he may well be a week ahead of schedule.
“Hopefully [I’ll be ready] for the last game of the season if everything goes well. But yeah, my focus now is to obviously get focused on my injury and try to fix it and try to get it right and obviously come back better, stronger,” Libbok told IOL.
“I saw the specialist and he told me I don’t have to have an operation. I just need to rehab and do a good rehab and I will be fine.”
It’s a timely boost for the Stormers, particularly following the heartbreaking setback to Deon Fourie, who sustained a suspected broken tibia in the victory over Connacht on Saturday.
Stormers boss ‘hopes’ Springboks star is not finished after horror injury
Fly-half headache
However, Libbok’s fitness does create a healthy selection headache for Dobson with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Damian Willemse both fit and firing for the Cape-based outfit.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu has produced two man-of-the-match displays in his first three games back from injury, while Willemse has shone at inside centre and full-back.
While Libbok is an out-and-out fly-half, Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Willemse offer options at full-back and inside centre in addition to the pivot role.
To make the decision even more difficult, Warrick Gelant has also returned after his brief spell on the sidelines and has been the regular choice for Dobson in the number 15 jersey.
Dobson is admittedly spoilt for choice as the inaugural champions look to launch an unlikely title charge after their poor early-season form,. Those struggles mean that even if they do make the play-offs, they are likely to play all of their knockout matches away from home.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/stormers-healthy-headache-as-springboks-star-manie-libbok-set-for-timely-return
