Stormers plot Lions game with core Springboks withdrawn, but there's a silver lining...

With the needs of the Springboks coming into sharp focus this week ahead of their UK tour, franchises will have to make do without some of their first choice players who have been withdrawn for travelling purposes.

On Wednesday, SA Rugby announced that a core group of players will leave for Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday evening, meaning they will not run out for their franchises in the two local derbies set for this weekend in the United Rugby Championship (URC).

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The Lions host the Stormers on Saturday before the Bulls play the Sharks on Sunday afternoon.

Fifty-four players - split among the Springboks and SA A team - will be named on Friday. 

A further 20 SA A players are set to depart for Ireland a week later on Saturday, 5 November, to begin their preparations for the clash against Munster, where they will be joined by a few players from the initial 34-man touring squad for the two SA A matches.

The good thing, one could argue about teams having to forget about their key national team players, is that after this weekend, URC's round 8 is only on 25 November (the Springboks play their last Test on tour on 26 November).

With the many moving parts involved, where does this leave the Stormers' selection puzzle?

It's not very complicated, Stormers assistant coach Dawie Snyman made it seem on Wednesday afternoon.

Stormers Bok mainstays are well known, but there was the curious case of Manie Libbok (who was a late call-up to the recently concluded Stellenbosch training camp) as well as Evan Roos and Sacha Mngomezulu.

According to Snyman, Libbok will be available on Saturday.

"At this stage we're selecting [for Saturday] the guys that trained today