Cape Town - Adding something new to a team can do great things, especially if that something new are young players who can not only add some depth to a side, but who can also bring the best out of senior players.
By "bring the best" out of the senior players, I of course mean pushing them out of their comfort zones and showing them that there’s someone desperately hunting their spot in the team. In this case, the Stormers team. And it’s something that Stormers coach Robbie Fleck is really excited about.
This year, the Cape side have included some promising youngsters in their squad for their massive pre-season victories against the Cheetahs and Eagles, and for their last warm-up game against the Lions on Saturday, Fleck has again included a few juniors for the Newlands fixture (3pm kickoff) that will feature rolling substitutions.
The 30-man squad boasts a mixture of experienced Super Rugby campaigners and young talent, and the Stormers are definitely in a better place than they were last year, where they struggled with depth in certain positions.
“I think the exciting part about this squad is that there are a lot of youngsters and they’re pushing hard for places and that’s pushing the senior players. From a management point, I’d like to think that we know what we want but with some of these kids putting up their hands it’s great for us to have a look at our options. What’s coming through is extremely exciting,” Fleck said
And while Fleck’s biggest goal will be to scout his combinations, and the fact that the results of pre-season games are normally not regarded as very significant, the Stormers coach wants to build on the strong performances and results his team produced in their first two warm-up games.
“I think that winning is important (in the pre-season games as well) and I think that shows in the Lions team that are coming down here. That’s been our mission throughout the pre-season games. We’ve played well in the last two games and it’s important that we keep that up,” he said. Another thing Fleck was positive about was the Stormers’ lack of injuries so far.
However, the Stormers will be another loose forward and openside flank short, as Marnus Schoeman, who is on loan from the Pumas, was injured during training yesterday.
“Scarra Ntubeni is doing incredibly well, Johan du Toit is doing well and Stephan de Wit is out for some time. So we’re looking better than we did four or five weeks ago," Fleck said.
“He (Marnus Schoeman) is going to be out, he took a blow to the head, so he’ll be out for a couple of days. Other than that, we’re actually looking quite good.”
The Stormers’ stocks will be bolstered even more once World Sevens Player of the Year Seabelo Senatla starts training with the squad, but Fleck said that the all-time leading Springboks Sevens try-scorer needs a “mental break” before he slots in with the team.
And after his superb showings with the Blitzboks, it’s completely understandable that Fleck wants the danger man to recharge before going on Super Rugby duty.
“Seabelo we will slowly integrate. He’s back in Cape Town, but he needs a bit of a mental break from the game. At the end of next week he’ll be joining us full time,” Fleck added.
Stormers squad to for Newlands
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Juarno Augustus, Nizaam Carr, Jaco Coetzee, Juan de Jongh, Dan du Plessis, Jean-Luc du Plessis, Rob du Preez, Dewaldt Duvenage, Rynhardt Elstadt, JC Janse van Rensburg, Cheslin Kolbe, Siya Kolisi, Dan Kriel, Dillyn Leyds, Wilco Louw, Frans Malherbe, SP Marais, Bongi Mbonambi, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Caylib Oosthuizen, Ramone Samuels, JD Shickerling, Chris van Zyl, Jano Vermaak, EW Viljoen, Cobus Wiese, Damian Willemse, Eduard Zandberg, Leolin Zas.