Cape Town – Stormers coach Robbie Fleck backed up all that talk of giving youngsters a chance when he named his 45-man squad for their Super Rugby campaign.
Fleck’s group, that will face their old foes the Bulls in their season-opener at Newlands on Saturday, contains the names of five players under the age of 21, while the squad also boasts experience, with 10 players having racked up at least 50 Super Rugby caps.
The Super Rugby squad includes newbies that got a shot to prove themselves in the Stormers’ three successful pre-season games, while the name Seabelo Senatla is now an official one on the Stormers roster.
Fleck said that cutting the squad was no easy task, but he was confident that he would be working with a group nowhere near short of talent this year.
"This squad is missing players like Scarra Ntubeni, Leolin Zas and Steph de Wit due to long-term injuries, but there is certainly plenty of talent here,” Fleck said.
"The players who did not make it onto this list are by no means out of the reckoning and could well still play an important role for us this season in what we all know will be a tough campaign.”
"Everyone has worked incredibly hard in the last few months building up to this and we are very keen to get out there and show our faithful fans what we are capable of," he added.
Stormers Super Rugby squad:
Juarno Augustus, Bjorn Basson, Nizaam Carr, Jaco Coetzee, Kurt Coleman, Damian de Allende, Juan de Jongh, Jan de Klerk, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Dan du Plessis, Jean-Luc du Plessis, Rob du Preez, Dewaldt Duvenage, Rynhardt Elstadt, Eben Etzebeth, Huw Jones, Oli Kebble, Cheslin Kolbe, Siya Kolisi, Dan Kriel, Dillyn Leyds, Wilco Louw, Frans Malherbe, Godlen Masimla, SP Marais, Bongi Mbonambi, Dean Muir, Khanyo Ngcukana, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Caylib Oosthuizen, Justin Phillips, Ramone Samuels, JD Schickerling, Marnus Schoeman, Seabelo Senatla, Chad Solomon, JC Janse van Rensberg, Frans van Wyk, Chris van Zyl, Ali Vermaak, Jano Vermaak, EW Viljoen, Cobus Wiese, Damian Willemse, Eduard Zandberg