Deon Fourie’s recovery from a knee injury is ahead of schedule and the DHL Stormers veteran is determined to get back onto the field. DYLAN JACK reports.
Fourie went under the knife in early April after an ACL injury with the Stormers against La Rochelle in the Champions Cup.
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The prognosis of a six-month layoff led to predictions that the 37-year-old flanker would hang up his boots.
However, during a press conference on Monday, Stormers director of rugby John Dobson revealed that Fourie is as hungry as ever to make his comeback and is on track to return by November.
“Deon, you would think because he’s won a World Cup and done his ACL, that this is a natural window,” Dobson said. “An ACL is a terrible thing to come back from.
“But he said, ‘I’m not ending my career on a golf cart’. So credit to him. His contract hasn’t been extended, but he’s got this season to come.
“He’s three or four weeks ahead of his return to play. So we will hopefully get him back at the end of October.”
When asked about another fan-favourite veteran, Brok Harris, Dobson said that the 39-year-old prop will extend his incredible career by another season.
“It’s remarkable. It’s extraordinary. We tried to pull him back but now he’s doing a full pre-season. So he’s got one more year as he transitions into coaching. He coaches our U19 and U21 scrums.”
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