DEON FOURIE

Siya Kolisi's injury may open the door for the veteran Springbok back-row

- Dylan Jack

THEY SAY that to assess a player’s value, you must watch his team play without him. In that regard, Deon Fourie’s importance to the Stormers could not have been better emphasised than when comparing successive displays in the Champions Cup.

Age 36 (25 Sept 1986)

Birthplace Pretoria

Franchise Stormers

Position Openside

Height 5ft 10in

Weight 15st 10lb

SA caps Five

Instagram handle @deon_fourie26

Fourie was outstanding in the home last-16 win over Harlequins, scoring twice and securing four turnovers to take his tournament tally to 12, the most by any player at that stage of the campaign. However, the openside suffered an orbital bone fracture that kept him out of the ensuing quarter-final in Exeter and beyond. His absence at Sandy Park was telling. “There were a couple of opportunities to steal, he would have called an extra cleaner in or slowed the ball down. We did miss him a hell of a lot,” said Stormers coach John Dobson after that 42-17 defeat.

Fourie forced his way into a Springbok jersey in 2022, writing his own bit of folklore by becoming South Africa’s oldest Test debutant at the age of 35.