Sport

Hooked up: Andre-Hugo Venter’s comeback relieves Stormers’ crisis at hooker

Dudley Carstens|Published

TIMELY RETURN: Andre-Hugo Venter

Hooker Andre-Hugo Venter was in die pakkie when the Stormers left for Wales on Monday ahead of Saturday’s crunch United Rugby Championship clash with Scarlets.

The 20-year-old’s recovery from an ankle injury couldn’t have come at a better time, as the Stormers are not only chasing a South African Shield win, but are also out to book a home quarterfinal berth in the Llanelli clash.

Currently fourth on the log, a bonus-point victory over the 10th-placed Scarlets will ensure that they can’t be caught by fifth-placed Ulster - one point behind them on 55.

With a 36-point points difference advantage over Ulster, a normal win over Scarlets should be enough to give them fourth place.

CONFIDENT: Coach Rito Hlungwani

But the Stormers are eyeing the third-placed Sharks and second-placed Munster too. With all three teams on 56 points, Munster face table-toppers Leinster in their final match, with the Sharks playing Ulster.

Still, the Stormers have to win their match and therefore the return of Venter is so important.

Such was the crisis at hooker in the Cape camp before last week’s break that they had to loan Cheetahs No.2 Wilmar Arnoldi for the 20-13 win over Leinster in their last match.

With regular No.2 Scarra Ntubeni still sidelined with an Achilles tendon injury and Chad Solomon still out, forwards coach Rito Hlungwani says: “JJ [Kotze] had first start against Leinster, and Andre-Hugo [Venter] is back from injury, so we’re not in a bad situation.”

He adds: “[Former hooker and current flanker] Deon [Fourie] has been throwing in a bit, in case we reach crisis level.”

Hlungwani says their lineouts got extra attention after a below-par performance in their last game against Leinster, saying: ““We played against a very good contesting team, and we were not good enough in terms of the basics...

“We are confident we can do better.”

The Stormers left for Wales on Monday.

STORMERS SQUAD

Hacjivah Dayimani, Neethling Fouche, Deon Fourie, Warrick Gelant, Brok Harris, Steven Kitshoff (captain), JJ Kotze, Manie Libbok, Frans Malherbe, Godlen Masimla, Salmaan Moerat, Ruhan Nel, Marvin Orie, Evan Roos, Seabelo Senatla, Cornel Smit, Marcel Theunissen, Stefan Ungerer, Ernst van Rhyn, Andre-Hugo Venter, Ali Vermaak, Damian Willemse, Nama Xaba, Leolin Zas

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