Ruhan Nel has made a surprising return to the DHL Stormers midfield for Sunday’s Heineken Champions Cup third round Pool clash with London Irish at the Gtech Community Stadium in the English capital.
Nel was injured in the first-round clash with London Irish at the DHL Stadium and was not in the touring squad that was announced by the Stormers ahead of a trip that before this Champions Cup game included one Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with the Glasgow Warriors. Clearly he was flown out unannounced during the week to replace wing Leolin Zas, who flew home on Tuesday with what was described as a glute tear.
The return of the former Blitzbok star and first-choice Stormers outside centre means that Dan du Plessis moves back inside to No12 in a positional switch, with Damian Willemse, who did duty in the midfield against Glasgow, moving back to fullback in place of Clayton Blommetjies. With Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu fit again and included on the reserve bench as one of two backline reserves, Blommetjies will sit out this match.
The two positional switches are not listed among the four changes made by the Stormers coach, John Dobson, for this week. Those changes number two among the backs, where Angelo Davids returns to the starting wing position after he finished in that position as a replacement against Glasgow, with Nel being the other. At forward there are also two changes, with Connor Evans coming in for Ben-Jason Dixon as second-row partner to Marvin Orie. This will be the highly promising Evans’ first start and looks like a good preparation for him probably starting more regularly once the under-strength phase of URC derbies arrives in February.
Junior Pokomela comes into the pack on the side of the scrum in what looks like a rotational switch with Willie Engelbrecht. Dixon, who said in a zoom press conference this week that he enjoys playing blindside flank, will cover both loose forward and flank, as will Simon Miller, another highly promising player who will make his debut off the bench for the Stormers in this match.
There is also a welcome return to the match day squad for former Griquas scrumhalf Stefan Ungerer, who is now permanently with the Stormers after playing on loan for them last season. This is his first appearance of the season because of an injury that ruled him out from the pre-season phase.
DHL Stormers: Damian Willemse, Sulieman Hartzenberg, Ruhan Nel, Dan du Plessis, Angelo Davids, Manie Libbok, Paul de Wet, Hacjivah Dayimani, Junior Pokomela, Deon Fourie, Marvin Orie, Connor Evans, Neethling Fouche, Joseph Dweba, Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: Andre-Hugo Venter, Ali Vermaak, Brok Harris, Simon Miller, Ben-Jason Dixon, Willie Engelbrecht, Stefan Ungerer, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.