Fiery Bok Roos unlikely to storm in against Dragons in Gqeberha

Fiery Springbok loose forward Evan Roos is a doubtful starter for the Stormers in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) clash against the Dragons in Gqeberha.

The No 8 suffered a rib injury in the Boks’ 27-13 win against England at Twickenham on Saturday and will go for scans in Cape Town on Wednesday. A big crowd is expected to watch the first URC game to be played at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (kickoff 2pm).

“Our doctor informed us about Evan Roos and what is going to happen,” Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani said.

“Evan is going for scans as soon as he lands. We are not sure if it (the rib) is broken or not. We will hear from the specialist, then we can give the correct information.

“With regards to the [Stormers returning] Springboks, we will work on a case-by-case basis. We have tried to create a plan for when each individual comes in.

“There are certain guys who have played a lot, and we will probably give them a rest. A few have played as much, so they will probably filter in as soon they come into the country.”

Before his injury, Stormers head coach John Dobson hinted that Roos would be part of his squad in Gqeberha.

“We will be putting out a lekker team for the Dragons, I promise you,” he said. “We can’t mess around with this one. If you are an Evan Roos fan, come and watch.”

Dobson said only victory would be good enough against the Welsh side.

After an impressive win over the Scarlets in their last outing, the Stormers will arrive in the Eastern Cape with much-needed momentum.

“We have to beat them at home and they are resurgent. It is a must-win game for us, and we will put out the strongest team we can.”

Dobson said he was delighted with the display by a “second-string” team against the Scarlets in Cape Town on Friday.

“We had 12 guys in the squad who played their first Currie Cup game last year against the Bulls here,” he said.

“We decided to blood as many guys as we could in this first half of the URC, which is a bit nerve-racking at times.

“But these guys have produced, and now we are sitting in a great position where we have much more depth than at the start of the season.

“So I am very pleased with the result and pleased with the fight because Scarlets came at us in the second half.

“I think we will be better against the Dragons in terms of how we want to play, and we have some personnel coming back, so we will probably put out a stronger team.”