There is some doubt over the participation of Salmaan Moerat on the forthcoming Springbok end-of-year tour but while his absence will be a blow to the DHL Stormers skipper’s growth as an International player, any suggestion of a lock crisis would be overly alarmist.
Stormers assistant coach Dawie Snyman has confirmed what his director of rugby John Dobson hinted at after the defeat to Edinburgh last weekend - Moerat will miss the two home Vodacom United Rugby Championship fixtures against Munster and Glasgow Warrior that the Cape side will play before the international break in November.
“Salmaan will be out for the next two games and will only be back at the end of November as he has undergone a procedure,” said Snyman at the start of the buildup week to Saturday’s clash with 2022/2023 champions, Munster.
He was careful to say though that he was not sure whether that meant that Moerat will be unavailable to tour with the Boks.
What Snyman was effectively saying was that the Bok alternative captain, who was the regular Stormers skipper last season, will not play for the Stormers before the end of next month.
Which isn’t the same as saying he will be recuperating until then, for the fact of the matter is that the Stormers just don’t have any games scheduled in that period so the first opportunity will be the end of November, when the international break is over for the franchise teams.
But while the information we were given by Snyman doesn’t necessarily preclude him from touring with the Boks, with the tour set to kick off in the second weekend in November with a game against Scotland in Edinburgh before the big clash against England at Twickenham followed by the final match of the year against Wales in Cardiff, it would appear unlikely he will tour.
RASSIE HAS PLENTY OF OPTIONS
If that is the case, it would be a setback for head coach Rassie Erasmus, who has clearly been grooming Moerat as a future captain and would need him to be playing as many games as possible as the 26-year-old is still at a relatively fledgling stage of his international career.
However, quite apart from the fact that South Africa’s most capped player, Eben Etzebeth, just happens to play the same No 4 lock position as Moerat does, there are plenty of options available to Erasmus - both in the form of players who have already played for the Boks, and players who haven’t yet pulled on the Bok jersey but look well suited to do so.
Starting with the former set of players, Jean Kleyn, who was part of the World Cup- winning effort, is back playing again for Munster after a long injury layoff that dates almost back to the World Cup itself.
It would be easy for Erasmus to reintroduce Kleyn to the squad as cover for Etzebeth.
Then there is the former Munster teammate of Kleyn, RG Snyman, who is now playing for Leinster.
Snyman of course is as at home at No 5 lock as he is at No 4, and would be an obvious addition to the squad now that he is also over his injury problems after missing most of the southern hemisphere international season.
We’ve become accustomed to seeing Snyman as an integral member of the Bok Bomb Squad, dating back to when the reserves first took on that name at the 2019 World Cup, but he is outstanding as a starter too.
JD OR COBUS WOULDN’T LET SIDE DOWN
Indeed, the only drawback with Snyman is the same one that applies to Moerat - he just doesn’t seem to get a long enough run of games without his momentum being interrupted by injury.
With Ruan Nortje having settled well as the No 5 lock during the southern hemisphere season in the continued absence of Franco Mostert and Lood de Jager, Snyman could easily fill the role of recognised back-up to Etzebeth.
But then when we say that we are also forgetting something about Erasmus and his mission - he will not just be using this tour as a win at all costs in the here and now exercise, but also as part of his process of building depth and expanding the international experience of players who could come into the frame for the next World Cup in Australia in 2027.
And here there are two players who have stood out in South African teams in the URC so far, and who have the potential to fill the role going forward.
The Stormers’ 29-year-old giant JD Schickerling is back playing for the Cape franchise after a three-year stint in Japan and while the Stormers have made a less than satisfactory start to their URC campaign, Schickerling has been a stand-out for them.
Provided he stays fit he should continue to grow his influence as, ironically, he continues his stand-in role for Moerat as the Stormers No 4.
Schickerling is of course equally at home at No 5, and should find himself dovetailing with Ruben van Heerden, who he has struck up a good second row partnership with, in that role at the Stormers when Moerat returns from his injury.
Come to think of it, Van Heerden himself is an accomplished No 4, having played most of his rugby for the Sharks and Stormers in that position, and he only moved to No 5, and the lineout leadership role, at the Cape franchise when Bok World Cup squad member Marvin Orie left the Stormers for France at the end of the 2022/2023 season.
But an even better option than Van Heerden as a No 4 would be an erstwhile teammate of Schickerling’s at the Stormers, Cobus Wiese.
The brother of Bok No 8 Jasper is back in South Africa playing at the Vodacom Bulls after a stint playing for Sale Sharks in England and he has been an impressive figure in the Bulls forward pack both in the Carling Currie Cup and in the URC games he has played so far.
Wiese played more often as a blindside flank when he started his senior career at the Stormers and Western Province, but then it needs to be remembered that the Cape franchise had Etzebeth on their books back then, as well as Schickerling.
When he did get a chance to play in the second row, Wiese showed his potential and it looks like that potential is being realised now.
If either Wiese or Schickerling got a chance to pull on the Bok jersey on the November tour, something Schickerling came close to doing in 2018 when he was selected to tour but never got onto the field, they are unlikely to let Erasmus or their country down and will add further to the stocks available to the world champion team in that position.