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Manie Libbok, Sacha Mngomezulu back from Springbok camp, but no Evan Roos at Stormers training

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Cape Town — The Stormers received a welcome boost on Wednesday as flyhalf Manie Libbok and utility back Sacha Mngomezulu rejoined the squad, but there was no sign of No 8 Evan Roos ahead of Saturday’s United Rugby Championship clash against the Lions at Ellis Park (4pm kickoff).

With the three-day Springbok training camp in Stellenbosch coming to a conclusion on Tuesday, Libbok and Mngomezulu were back at Stormers training at Bishops in Rondebosch.

The playmaker duo are likely to be selected in the SA A group that will be announced alongside the Springbok squad by Bok Jacques Nienaber on Friday for the upcoming tour games against Munster and Bristol Bears.

“It was also valuable in the sense that it exposed new players such as Manie and Sacha to our structures and to see them in action as we finalise the selections for the Springbok and SA A teams. It was pleasing to see their, and the rest of the training squad’s enthusiasm,” SA director of rugby Rassie Erasmus said in a statement on Wednesday.

But star No 8 Roos was not present at the Stormers practice on Wednesday, according to assistant coach Dawie Snyman.

“Manie and Sacha were with the Springboks on Monday and Tuesday, and joined our training today. So, they are available for selection. At this stage, we are selecting the guys that trained today, and it was Manie and Sacha. The rest are in the core group,” Snyman said.

That could mean Roos will be part of the 34-player Bok squad that will depart for Ireland on Saturday ahead of the Test against Ireland next Saturday, which will see him miss the URC clash against the Lions.

The 20 other players who will form the basis of the SA A side will travel directly to Cork next Saturday ahead of the tour outing against Munster five days later.

Roos also sat out of last week’s 30-24 loss to Cardiff in Wales, which saw Hacjivah Dayimani shift to No 8, and he produced an outstanding display despite receiving a yellow card.

But Stormers coach John Dobson will be delighted that Libbok and Mngomezulu will feature against the Lions, especially as the Capetonians feel they need to improve their kicking game following the Cardiff defeat.

“We realised teams want to put us under pressure with the kicking game, and didn’t want to allow us space, so there are areas there that we need to fix and try to get better at. Their (Cardiff’s) first try came from a contestable that we lost, so it was almost a mistake from our side first — and then they found kick-space after that,” Snyman said.

“The second one, we’ll give it to them — it was a great executed kick that they got into space.

“The Lions at Ellis Park will always be tough, and they had a great tour, which must have given them a lot of confidence.

“It was a good game against Ulster, and they came back nicely in the second half, and it would’ve been massively disappointing for them not to play against Glasgow Warriors.

“We are hurting a little bit after the loss. We want to do well and get the result, and after 15 games (unbeaten), it’s almost like we’re not used to losing.

“But it’s a long season — sometimes a loss is a good thing, and it showed areas that we probably need to work on.

“In any case, there were one or two moments that were very close at the back-end of that game, and it’s a good learning for us. For the guys on the field, there were one or two decisions that they could’ve probably made better, and executed better — and we could’ve gotten the result.

“But we are back at it now, focused on Saturday and not let the result of last week determine what we are working towards.”

@ashfakmohamed

IOL Sport

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