He may not be ready for the warm-up fixture against the Lions at Newlands on Friday week, but the chances are good that Jaque Fourie will be opposing the same opponents when the Stormers start their Super Rugby campaign on 26 February.

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The Springbok centre missed the end of year tour and the last couple of Currie Cup matches because of injury, but he made his return to the training field on Monday – and Stormers coach Allister Coetzee was pleased with how it went.

“Jaque trained with us on Monday and what we were pleased about was that he was completely pain free,” said Coetzee.

“That is an indication that there is an excellent chance he will be ready to start the Super Rugby season for us. Perhaps it would be a bit ambitious to expect him to play in the warm-up game next week, and there is a need to keep him on ice because it is going to be a really long year for all of the players.”

The Stormers started the year with two friendly matches against student sides last weekend, and they have another date with the Maties this coming Saturday, but it will be on Friday, 28 January that the build-up to the new season really starts to intensify. That is the night the Stormers host the Lions at Newlands in the first match of the Neo-Africa triangular series that they won last year.

In 2010 the tournament featured the Stormers, Sharks and the Western Force, but John Mitchell’s switch from being coach of the Force to being coach of the Lions has meant the Johannesburg union will displace the Perth side in the competition. The Lions are down to play the Sharks the following Tuesday and the Stormers and Sharks will clash on Saturday, 5 February.

“We are pleased with the way our build-up to the season has been going and we are pleased that so far we are relatively injury free,” said Coetzee.

“Apart from Jaque Fourie the other big name out at the moment is Jean de Villiers, but he will be back in training next week. We are just managing him carefully as on the last end of year tour he had a few problems with his groin and it would be foolish to risk him unnecessarily.”

De Villiers was on hand to watch the Stormers train in the January heat on Thursday, and although there was no Fourie, there were a smattering of Boks and Stormers stalwarts who were injured towards the end of the last domestic season who were back firing on all cylinders.

Considering their value to the tight five, Stormers fans will be pleased to learn that among those were hooker Tiaan Liebenberg and lock Andries Bekker, while Ricky Januarie also looks healthy again. The news on Peter Grant is that he is only expected back next month. Springbok prop CJ van der Linde, the off-season recruit from the Cheetahs, looks to be settling in well with his new teammates.