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Cape Town - The injury list at the Stormers is growing.
The news coming out of the camp on Tuesday afternoon was that forwards Rynhardt Elstadt and Jean Kleyn were facing spells on the sidelines following Saturday's warm-up victory over the Jaguares at Newlands.
Elstadt has picked up a groin injury and will be out for up to six weeks while Kleyn has a fractured scaphoid (wrist) and will be out for four months after he undergoes surgery.
There was also bad news for young loose forward Rikus Bothma, who came off the bench on Saturday and damaged his MCL (knee).
Bothma now also requires surgery and he faces 12 weeks out, while flyhalf Brandon Thompson's ankle injury will see him sidelined for a fortnight.
Coach Robbie Fleck said losing Kleyn and Elstadt was a massive blow.
"It’s not ideal what happened on the weekend but it is what it is and we feel that the squad is strong enough and youthful enough," said Fleck.
"Two big injury blows … two similar players who bring a lot of physicality. But in saying that we’re getting back the likes of Frans (Malherbe), Schalk (Burger), Eben (Etzebeth) … for the guys we have lost we’re getting back players as well."
There were also updates on the players who were injured before the Jaguares game.
Wilco Louw is out for six months after he damaged his PCL (knee), Damian de Allende is expected back in April while Jaco Taute is not expected to feature before June.
The Stormers host the Bulls at Newlands on February 27 in their Super Rugby opener.
