Stormers will turn to De Jongh as Willemse set for several weeks out

The Stormers claimed a well-deserved 28-17 win over Edinburgh in the United Rugby Championship quarter-final on Saturday, but suffered a double injury blow both before and after kick-off.

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In the lead-up to the clash, Damian Willemse suffered a worrying arm injury, and the Springboks star could be set for up to six weeks on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, talented Rikus Pretorius suffered a serious injury of his own during the first few minutes of the clash in Cape Town, with 20-year-old debutant Sacha Mngomezulu having to fill in for far longer than expected.

The Stormers-Ulster clash will kick off on Saturday at 3pm

However, after the match, Stormers coach John Dobson explained that the planning would need to change for the all-important last-four playoff against Ulster this weekened.

“That was seismic,” Dobson said when commenting on Pretorius’ injury. “Sitting in the coaches’ box, we almost laughed because we didn’t have Juan de Jongh on the bench. We wanted to cover other positions and go six-two. We brought in Rikus, who has been out with a long-term injury, and he is off in two minutes.

“Then Sacha comes on. He’s hardly played in the Currie Cup. That injury couldn’t have been worse for us. But I think Sacha did really well. He just scrapped for us, because he hasn’t played enough rugby.”

“The initial assessment on Damian was confirmed [on Friday]. It was about six weeks, but we are getting it rescanned and looked at again. He is really keen to play, but I can’t see that happening,” he added.

“Rikus also looks reasonably serious. He has gone for a scan. The first assumption was that it could be a broken tibia, which it is not. That was the first message from the doctor, but I am sure that he won’t play next week.

“Juan had a good game against Griquas. Dan du Plessis last played in late January, so while he is back on the field and running, we can’t risk him for a game of this magnitude. Juan will be the one we will turn to.”

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