Stormers face loose head crisis ahead of Ulster clash

Though they achieved their mission with aplomb, the Stormers’ 43-21 United Rugby Championship (URC) victory over Edinburgh at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday came at a price.

They have been plunged into a crisis at loose head with Lizo Gqoboka the latest to join the infirmary.

It is a savage blow for the player, who had just returned from injury.

He made it onto the field as a substitute in the 51st minute, but 10 minutes later he rolled his ankle and made way for the man he replaced, the enduringly reliable Brok Harris.

It meant the 39-year-old ended up playing about 70 minutes, which will make his claim for overtime quite substantial.

That Harris is the only loose head standing left the Stormers in a bit of a pickle, conceded head coach John Dobson.

“Now it is a crisis,” Dobson admitted. “Lizo rolled his ankle. With all that scrumming pressure it is quite significant.

“Now its Lizo, Sti [Sithole], Ali [Vermaak], Leon [Lyons] and Kwenzo [Blose] all out. We are going to get somebody in.

“I suppose we could find some Georgian with a surname ending in ‘vili’.

“We are actually in trouble. We’ll get somebody in SA. We can’t even take from the Cheetahs because they have filled their loan quota.

“We wanted Schalk Ferreira because he is an old Stormer, but we can’t get him. It would have been funny if we replaced Brok with a player older than him.”

On the tight head side, the coach had reason to smile with Frans Malherbe coming through his first match since the Rugby World Cup final unscathed.

“I thought he was exceptional,” Dobson said.

Apart from Harris, captain Salmaan Moerat and left wing Suleiman Hartzenberg also went above and beyond.

Observing the month of Ramadan, the pair have been fasting, which brings context to the shift Moerat delivered to help establish the Stormers’ forward dominance.

“To do what he did today is remarkable,” Dobson said about Moerat’s 65-minute effort.

Hartzenberg’s exploits were delivered in the open. He scored three of the Stormers’ seven tries, but the home side were wasteful and could have bagged more.

Surfeit possession and territory opportunities came thick and fast. They were like a toddler presented with too many cones — ice cream was always going to be floor-bound.

“It was a bit like the Loftus match where we made so many entries,” Dobson said, recalling their defeat to the Bulls three weeks earlier.

“I thought our spark was back. What is frustrating is how many tries we are not converting. It’s a mixture of reasons, but I’d rather have those opportunities created than not.”

The Stormers will have to fine-tune their attack and find suitable cover at loose head before hosting Ulster this weekend.

They cannot afford to be blunt in attack against Ulster, while former captain Steven Kitshoff will probably ask some searching questions of their scrum.