Stormers, Springboks hit by fresh injury blow for Steven Kitshoff

Double Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks prop Steven Kitshoff will be sidelined for at least six weeks after suffering a neck injury on the eve of the new BKT United Rugby Championship season. The 32-year-old has just returned to the Stormers, whom he led to the inaugural URC title in 2022, after cutting short his stint with Ulster only one year into a three-year deal.

But Stormers head coach John Dobson confirmed on Tuesday evening that the experienced loosehead will be unavailable for the first chunk of the new league campaign. He also indicated that Kitshoff is unlikely to be ready in time for South Africa’s November tour, which will see them play Tests against Scotland, England and Wales on successive weekends.

“He has done some ligaments – we don’t know what grade yet – quite high up on his neck,” explained Dobson. “It will be six weeks until a reassessment date, but I understand he is out for six weeks at least.

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“When you are talking about a player’s neck and ligaments and stability, it is quite a dangerous cocktail, so it’s one we want to take cautiously. It will be six weeks minimum and then we will know how many more weeks after that. That is as much as I know. It’s a blow.”

Dobson insisted there was no prospect of the Stormers, who were beaten by eventual champions Glasgow in last season’s URC quarter-finals, recruiting a short-term replacement. “You can’t replace Steven at this stage of the season. It’s not as if guys like that are hanging around on trees.

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“We had the best scrum differential in the league last season without Steven. We have also got a promising ‘youngster’ called Brok Harris (the veteran 39-year-old prop), who will have to go again. We just hope that Steven is six to eight weeks and no longer than that. We are done in terms of recruitment.”

Dobson has been preparing for the new URC season with many of his squad playing in the Currie Cup for Western Province. With the final of that competition set for 21 September, on the same weekend the URC kicks off, all four South African teams have seen their opening URC derby matches – Stormers vs Bulls and Sharks vs Lions – postponed until sometime in the new year.

“That threw the whole pre-season,” lamented Dobson, whose side will now begin their URC campaign with three away games against Ospreys, Zebre and Edinburgh. “We were literally on the phone today trying to organise a friendly. Of course it is disruptive. We were also looking forward to the momentum of playing in Cape Town. That has been taken away now.

“It is a blow both in terms of our prep and trying to get the season under way at home. Us against the Bulls is a big occasion for the fans in Cape Town, so to take it off the table is disappointing. It’s really poor.  But I suppose it is something to look forward to when it is replayed in February or March.”

Sharks coach John Plumtree was also critical of the decision to postpone the opening round URC fixtures, leaving the Durban-based outfit to start the season with a mini-tour of away games against Connacht, Dragons and Benetton rather than a home game against Lions.

“Organisers have got to be better than this,” he said. “If we are going to play a competition through these winter months and then it impacts on the URC, it can’t impact on our planning. They have to be better organised.

“We spend a lot of time planning and now we have got another game to add to the calendar. If we had reached the Currie Cup final, we were more than happy to play that and an URC game, We would just have played a younger group. That is what everyone was happy to do, barring one or two provinces. It’s just another game to find time for later on.”

Plumtree, whose side finished a lowly 14th in the URC last season but won the European Challenge Cup to qualify for this season’s Champions Cup, was more upbeat when discussing the return of Siya Kolisi to the Sharks fold after the Springboks captain cut short his stint in Paris with Racing 92.

“It was the world’s worst kept secret, wasn’t it?” he said. “We had a little hiccup along the way, dealing with the two clubs and a transfer fee, but we are delighted to have him back. He wants to be back here and wants to bring his family back. Emotionally it’s good for him. He is going to be a happy boy being back in South Africa and back in Durban.

“We are excited about what he brings to the group in terms of the way he can help bond a team with different cultures. He is going to be massive in that space and he’s an outstanding player. It’s good for our leadership. I feel I have some real quality leaders in my group. It’s a long season ahead with a lot of different challenges, navigating the URC and EPCR, and he will help a lot.”