Stormers suffer lock blow 

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JD Schickerling will miss the North-South derby against the Vodacom Bulls in Cape Town on Saturday, joining several Stormers stars on the sidelines.

The Stormers and Bulls will resume their traditional rivalry at Cape Town Stadium after a week's break in a rescheduled round-one fixture in the Vodacom URC.

Schickerling injured his shoulder in the first half of a heavy defeat to Leinster at the Aviva Stadium on 25 January in round 10 of the competition.

The towering lock’s exit was the second such disruption to the Stormers' plans in Dublin as flyhalf Manie Libbok had been forced off later in the contest with a serious knee injury.

Speaking in a Stormers conference on Monday, assistant coach Norman Laker addressed the availability of Schickerling while providing an update on Libbok's recovery.

"Manie went off [against Leinster] but we gave him a few days off to get in his Bok resting period to try and recover, and I think he'll be back tomorrow or so," Laker told reporters.

"JD Schickerling also went off with a shoulder injury and will be out for a while."

Schickerling has featured prominently for the Stormers in the URC and Investec Champions Cup after returning to Cape Town from Japan this season.

MORE: Stormers, Bulls gear up for North-South IX

Bok skipper Salmaan Moerat will likely link up with Ruben van Heerden in the second row on Saturday but director of rugby John Dobson's back-up options are limited, especially with Adre Smith away on a sabbatical in the Far East.

Laker, too, shed light on the return to play of Bok playmakers Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (shoulder) and Damian Willemse (groin) as well as cousins Dan and Jean-Luc du Plessis, who are nursing knee and hand injuries respectively.

"Dan's doing well, JL not so much. He hurt his hand against Racing 92 [on 18 January]," he said. "Not 100 percent sure yet if Dan [is available again], he still has to pass a medical or two.

"Sacha's not back yet, that's the long and short of it. Damian's  about a month away."

Looking to this week's challenge, Laker expects a much-improved performance from the Stormers after conceding five tries to an understrength Leinster in the Irish capital, where the result left the Cape outfit 12th on the log. 

"Conceding five tries… anything more than one or two is not up to standard, especially in a competition like this. It was definitely disappointing," the defence guru said.

"It's definitely something we're working on and focusing on this coming weekend.

"Every game from now on is an important game and we can't look too far ahead, and we'll take it game by game and end where we have to end."

Photo: @THESTORMERS/Twitter

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