Stormers fullback out with 'bad fracture'

REACTION: Stormers head coach John Dobson has confirmed that one of his fullbacks will be out of action for a lengthy period.

Tristan Leyds, who is the younger brother of Springbok Dillyn Leyds, suffered a fractured finger in his team's 33-34 defeat to the Cheetahs at Cape Town Stadium over the weekend.

"He fractured one of his middle fingers. It's a bad fracture so he’s got to be operated on and will be out for 10 weeks," said Dobson.

Dobson said it was a blow to lose the 23-year-old as he was looking to give him more game time over the next few weeks.

"He’s a kid and it means so much to him and we want to bring him through, but he’s going to be out for a long time, unfortunately.

"We hadn’t really prepped for that. We weren’t going to make that sub - it was going to be Abner [van Reenen] on for Kade [Wolhuter]. Kade doesn’t play fullback, so suddenly you are playing fullback against a kicking game like they’ve got with Frans Steyn at 12 and Ruan Pienaar at 10.

"It was a disruption. He [Leyds] is going to be out for 10 weeks which is a blow because we wanted to really bring him through in these preparations."

The only other big injury concern in the Stormers camp is Mnombo Zwelendaba.

Zwelendaba, a promising No.13, could also be out for a lengthy period after getting injured during the team's captain's run last Friday.

"He pulled his achilles and that’s a fairly serious injury, which is a pity because he’s a great young No.13," Dobson added.