DHL Stormers assistant coach, Dawie Snyman confirmed on Tuesday that the DHL Stormers have flown in former Vodacom Bulls lock Hendré Stassen to replace Gary Porter who suffered a long-term injury on tour against Munster.
“It didn’t look good for him and unfortunately Gary is going home, but Hendre Stassen has come out to join us,” said Snyman.
Stassen stayed behind when the squad went on tour to get more acquainted with the Stormers' systems.
“We have been in this position before,” backline and attack coach Dawie Snyman said, adding: “It is interesting how we tend to get injuries in the same position, we’ve already had Salmaan (Moerat) ruled out for a few months because of an injury, but fortunately we have developed depth in that position.”
“The guys who come in have to step up.”
Adre Smith, who replaced Porter against Munster, is likely to come straight into the starting lineup, with Ruben van Heerden shifting back into the No 5 jersey and taking control of the lineout with Stassen expected to make his debut for the Stormers off the bench.
Snyman also said the players on tour are in a good space although they lost 03-10 to Munster.
“It was a solid performance, not too bad, and we took heart from it as we were playing a good team on a field they play well on in very wet and windy conditions and with just a bit of luck here or there we could have got the result,”
“One of our learnings as a team is the adaptation to different conditions and situations, and that is why we came away from the Munster game with some confidence. It was wet and windy and yet we came close to getting the result. We must just make sure we learn from the experience.”