Cape Town - The Stormers’ massive United Rugby Championship win over Zebre didn’t come without a price.
Andre-Hugo Venter - who at first replaced Scarra Ntubeni in the 41st minute, only to be then replaced himself by Ntubeni in the 64th minute at hooker in their 55-7 thrashing of the Italian team at the weekend - suffered an injury and had to be helped off the field.
The Stormers scored nine tries - two of them by Ntubeni off the maul - to the visitors’ one at the Danie Craven Stadium on Sunday. Speaking after the game, coach John Dobson said that they would know more about the extent of the 20-year-old front-rower’s injury this week.
“We still have to send Andre-Hugo for scans but unfortunately it doesn’t look good,” Dobson said.
“He came off with an ankle injury and we thought we could give him some game time seeing as we were so far ahead, but that didn’t work out, unfortunately, and it could be problematic for us if he is ruled out for some time. We are a bit thin at hooker.
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“We don’t know the extent of the injury as yet, but it looked consequential.”
At the moment, only Chad Solomon, who has been playing for Western Province in the Currie Cup, is experienced back-up should Venter be ruled out ahead of the Cape side’s clash against Cardiff Blues this Sunday (2pm kickoff).
Matchday captain and loose forward Deon Fourie might have to be roped into the No 2 role if Venter is sidelined for the immediate future.
It’s a position that the experienced Fourie, who returned to Cape Town last year after plying his trade in France since 2014, has experience in.
@WynonaLouw