Stormers veteran Deon Fourie is set to return to Cape Town for scans on his injured knee.
The 39-year-old flank suffered the injury after being caught in a croc roll at a breakdown by Ulster lock Iain Henderson during the 38-38 draw in Belfast on Friday night.
“All I can tell you is he came off the field wearing a [knee] brace,” Stormers defence coach Norman Laker said on Monday. “He’s most probably flying back to South Africa to get a scan and diagnosis.”
Henderson’s yellow card was upgraded to a 20-minute red on review, but that was scant consolation for the Stormers.
“We’ve lost one of our captains, which is quite disappointing,” Laker said. “It’s not nice to lose one of our top, most-capped players because of an incident like that.
“On field, I really thought it must have been a red card,” a still bristling Laker added. “I do think there must be consequences.”
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The Stormers also highlighted a second incident, which occurred after centre Dan du Plessis made a tackle. No 8 Evan Roos contested the ball on the ground before being cleaned out illegally by an Ulster player.
“Evan was luckily a lone cleaner, but it was also from the side,” said Laker.
“I understand Dan did not roll away, so that is the first offence. But then it was a side clean and was also still foul play.
“I’d rather give a penalty immediately than have a player cleaning from the side, because it easily could have led to injury.
“With Evan it could have been a similar situation [to Fourie].”
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Laker added that the 4G surface used by clubs such as Ulster and Cardiff increased the risk of serious injury.
“Your feet get stuck [on 4G], but on grass your foot might give way and your knees or ankles might be fine.”
This could have been career-ending for Deon Fourie. pic.twitter.com/cOXzavopCy
— Simon Borchardt (@SimonBorchardt) May 8, 2026
The post Stormers fuming over Fourie injury appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
