BJ blow for Boks as Stormers feel his loss

Stormers boss John Dobson confirms Ben-Jason Dixon is out for the rest of the Vodacom URC, and looks doubtful to feature for the Springboks’ season-opening clashes.

Dobson acknowledged the impact of the blindside flanker’s absence during a Stormers team announcement conference for Saturday’s round 16 clash against Benetton

The Capetonians have made one change to the starting XV that beat Connacht last week, Leolin Zas returning on the left wing in place of Suleiman Hartzenberg.

Dixon, sidelined since March following wrist surgery, joins veteran Deon Fourie on the injury list as the eighth-placed Stormers aim to overtake fifth-placed Benetton with a victory  at Cape Town Stadium.

“He’s definitely [out for the rest of] this season. And to be honest, we’re missing him, very much so,” Dobson said on Friday.

TEAM: Stormers tweak winning formula

He added that Dixon’s absence has been compounded by the versatile Willie Engelbrecht’s return to the Pumas, leaving the Stormers thin in the back row.

“That’s probably my responsibility, that we didn’t really control Willie’s family situation, but yeah, we’re feeling it,” he said.

Dixon’s recovery timeline means the five-Test forward is set to miss the Boks’  28 June fixture against the Barbarians and the July Tests against Italy and Georgia.

“Moon [Salmaan Moerat] says it’s about four months, which is absolutely right as he’s a month in,” Dobson said. “So three months, July. It does have an impact on any internationals.”

Dobson revealed the coaching staff is exploring future options at No 7, including lock JD Schickerling and utility forward Connor Evans, who’s on the bench this week.

“[Schickerling] does cover ground quickly… It just looks a bit silly, a bit like a giraffe! But he has done that,” Dobson said. “I see a lot of BJ in Connor. I just think he has not conditioned in terms of the high accelerations yet, because he’s been playing lock. But we can work on that for the next while, I think he can be very special.

“That’s probably the way we’re going to go but ja, we’re sort of patching it a little bit at the moment.

MORE: Boogey shifts gears for Benetton

“We weren’t as prepared there as we probably could have been. I think what would have been the case is if Keke [Morabe] had still been fit, then Evan [Roos] would have been on the seven. Marcel [Theunissen] is doing a good job.”

Despite defensive concerns from the Connacht win, Dobson remains confident in his team’s ability to correct individual errors against a formidable Benetton side.

“There were a couple of individual errors, to be honest, there were four, of which three led to tries,” he said. “But, one of the learnings of this week was just how the chain reaction starts from a really small thing.

“What is important is to give [defence coach] Norman [Laker] the team he wants, because I can’t sit up here and say, ‘listen, the defence was a problem’ and then choose a team that doesn’t suit our defensive thing.

“Tomorrow is a really proper game of rugby. I mean… 600 Italian caps, all took one player in the pack who played the Six Nations. They’ve got this balance now of a really good pack with x factor. Probably the best centre pairing Italy ever produced so it’s a proper game of rugby tomorrow.”

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images