Injury to Springbok Cobus Reinach tests Stormers’ depth at key stage of URC season

The Stormers are set to be without Springbok scrumhalf Cobus Reinach for their final two United Rugby Championship (URC) round-robin matches and potentially the rest of the season.

Reinach (36) injured his knee in the 48–12 thrashing of the Glasgow Warriors on Saturday afternoon, and director of rugby John Dobson painted a grim picture of his injury after the clash.

While the Stormers returned to the top of the URC standings following the bonus-point victory, Reinach’s injury is a significant setback. He could face a spell of up to 11 weeks on the sidelines if it is a medial cruciate ligament (MCL) injury. However, if he has injured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the recovery could be significantly longer.

Dobson said afterwards he hopes it is a medial injury and not Reinach’s ACL, but he has made peace with the fact that they will not have the nippy scrum-half for their tour matches.

Reinach was seen hobbling off the field after he was trapped in a ruck on the Warriors’ tryline and was in a knee brace after the match as the Stormers celebrated a deserved victory.

“I don’t think so,” Dobson said when asked if Reinach is okay.

“He is in a brace but hasn’t been scanned yet. But I don’t see him coming back for a while. That is the truth. I just hope it’s not that bad for the Springboks. It’s going to put us under a bit of pressure. I thought Cobus played his best game in a while today (Saturday).

“After the hernia operation, he looked like (making) a comeback, so he’s pretty upset.”

The Stormers will have Stefan Ungerer, Imad Khan, Dewaldt Duvenage and Asad Moos available, with the responsibility likely to fall on Khan and Ungerer. Duvenage’s experience overseas could push the Cape side in his direction.

However, the young Khan played a good game on Saturday when he replaced Reinach, and the Stormers must back him to gain more experience in high-stakes matches ahead of the URC play-offs.