Jurie Matthee is set to start at flyhalf for the Stormers against Leinster.
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The injury to superstar Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu understandably hogged the headlines after the Stormers marched into the United Rugby Championship semi-finals, but it is not all bad news as they travel to Dublin to face Leinster.
Two of the four casualties from the gruelling win over Cardiff in Cape Town — Dan du Plessis and Ruben van Heerden — trained on Monday and will travel to Ireland. The fourth injured player, Seabelo Senatla, will join Feinberg-Mngomezulu on the sidelines for some time.
Had experienced inside centre Du Plessis and under-rated lock Van Heerden not travelled with the squad on Tuesday night, it would have been a catastrophic setback for a side that needs everything to go its way to beat the defending URC champions.
“Ruben is travelling, and Dan is also travelling,” said assistant coach Rito Hlungwani. “Seabelo suffered a concussion, so unfortunately, he won’t be coming with us, and we all know about the injury to Sacha.
"He will be out for a while. But we knew that on Saturday night, so while both Seabelo and Sacha are a big loss, in terms of this week, it has started okay on the injury front.”
Du Plessis’ smooth combination with outside centre Ruhan Nel remains the cornerstone of the Stormers’ backline. Interestingly, the pair last week equalled De Wet Barry and Marius Joubert’s long-standing record for midfield appearances for the Stormers.
The recovery of Van Heerden is absolutely vital. The second row is an area where the Stormers have suffered chronic injury setbacks this season, and they desperately need Van Heerden to provide game-day depth at lock alongside Adre Smith and Salmaan Moerat.
The forward battle with a Leinster unit packed with seasoned Ireland internationals will be immense.
Hlungwani insisted that the loss of Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been cushioned by the ability of Jurie Matthee to slot seamlessly into the game plan.
“There will be no trouble at all for the other players getting used to Jurie because they train with him all the time, and he’s also played a lot of games for us — many of them quite tough games,” Hlungwani explained.
“He has always been ready to step in. We are confident he will come in and do a good job for us. Jurie will fit in nicely.”