Joseph Dweba looks set to make his DHL Stormers debut in Saturday’s second Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash and it appears the Edinburgh front-row players, who feature among them some South African born Scottish internationals, could be in for a tough afternoon.
Stormers coach John Dobson isn’t expecting Dweba to hit the ground running as he believes the 26-year-old Springbok and former Cheetahs hooker hasn’t seen enough rugby recently for too much to be expected of him.
“He’s like a typical diesel driven hooker, he needs some game time before he really gets going,” laughed Dobson during a break in his team’s preparations for Saturday’s game at the DHL Stadium.
However, one thing that has left Dobson and Dweba’s new teammates wide eyed has been his scrumming. Dweba is renowned for his scrumming strength, and he flexed those muscles in training this week.
“What blew me away this week was his scrumming. He popped Andre-Hugo Venter (Stormers back-up hooker) out of the one scrum and he was cross-eyed. It was a real eye opener to all of us and tremendously exciting in terms of what he can bring for us,” said the Stormers coach, who had lock Marvin Orie sitting alongside him nodding in agreement.
Dweba won’t be flanked by first choice Bok props Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe this week as they are being given a well earned rest after a full Rugby Championship season with the national team. But Dobson says he is really excited about seeing that front row together later in the competition.
“His scrumming power was not something I knew about Joseph so that is a real bonus for us and I am excited about what we could do in later games,” he said.
Dweba struggled with the Boks when Bongi Mbonambi’s injury and the decision to play Malcolm Marx off the bench forced him into a starting role against the All Blacks in Johannesburg and again against the Wallabies in Adelaide. His lineout throwing in particular came under scrutiny. However, Dobson has no doubt that Dweba can throw, he just needs to get back into the groove with some regular game time.
“Joseph just needs to play a lot. He can definitely throw into the lineouts, we don’t have any issues with that. He just needs a little squeezing and a bit of love. What he does as a ball carrier is also particularly exciting. He has a surprising amount of space when he comes around the blindside or around the corner and is very difficult for the opposition to stop.
“He is a really great ball carrier and I would say there are not many hookers better than him in that regard. In that sense he is going to be a really great acquisition for us as he suits our attacking, ball in hand style of play. He strengthens the team.”
Venter also played well last week at the Danie Craven Stadium and rounded off a sublime try that was quintessential Stormers in terms of offloading and running lines, while the experienced Scarra Ntubeni is due back from his long term injury sooner than expected. So it is suddenly looking up for the Stormers in a position where last season there was a perceived weakness.
With the season a long one this year because of the addition of the Champions Cup fixtures that start just before Christmas, all the Stormers hookers on their books should get ample game time, but Dobson expects Dweba to quickly become a key member of the team.
“I know there were problems with his throwing in the Rugby Championship, but we know that at test level the margin is much smaller in terms of time (to get game ready). We are on a long journey with Joseph, and he certainly can throw, his scrumming I mentioned, and his carrying is really good.
“I don’t expect him to dominate the world this Saturday. This is just the beginning. As a diesel hooker he needs to feel the environment and grow into it. But I fully expect him to be a cult hero at the DHL Stadium in a year from now.”
Dweba turns 27 towards the end of next month and was born in Carletonville. He was schooled at Florida Hoerskool and made his first impression at provincial senior level playing for the Cheetahs in 2016, who beat the Blue Bulls 36-16 in that year’s Currie Cup final to claim the domestic trophy for the fifth time under the captaincy of Francois Venter and with Dweba playing a significant role in the drive for victory.
He spent three seasons playing for French club Bordeaux before deciding to come back to South Africa to play for the Stormers.