Injured Zas flies back home with Feinberg-Mngomezulu set to step up for Stormers

The Stormers will be without injured winger Leolin Zas when they tackle London Irish in a Champions Cup clash in Brentford on Sunday.

Left winger Zas sustained a minor gluteal muscle tear in last weekend's 24-17 URC defeat to Glasgow Warriors.

Stormers assistant coach Rito Hlungwani confirmed on Wednesday that Zas returned to Cape Town, but the forwards guru is confident they will cope in his absence.

"Zas has flown back home because of his injury," Hlungwani told reporters. "It is a tough loss but we have to carry on."

Young prodigy Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has returned from a tibia injury and is likely to play a pivotal role against London Irish.

"Luckily, we do have good enough cover. Suleiman (Hartzenberg) has played in that position before and is here with us. It's not the end of the world.

"Stefan Ungerer (scrumhalf) and Sacha have been training well. Those two guys have come back from injury.

"We have enough numbers to cover. There's plenty of variations for us. Sacha can play at 12, so we could maybe move Damian (Willemse) to fullback and Blomme (Clayton Blommetjies) to the wing. We are happy with where we are, even though it’s sad that Zas can't play this game."

READ | Stormers sensation Sacha returns 'a better person and player' after SA A injury

The Stormers beat London Irish 34-14 in their Pool B encounter in December.Sunday’s clash kicks off at 15:00 (SA time).