The DHL Stormers coaches and players agree that the timing of Friday night’s clash with the touring All Blacks is far from ideal for them, but the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that is being presented to them has made any sacrifice made in their quest to be ready for it worthwhile.
While the players in the extended All Black squad are in mid-season, the Stormers players have only just returned to work at the start of the build-up to the Vodacom URC season, which kicks off at the end of September.
In a normal off-season, they would only be starting the pre-season preparation now, with most of the emphasis on conditioning, but forwards coach Rito Hlungwani confirmed that the magnitude of the challenge and chance to face the All Blacks had precipitated sacrifices that the players were prepared to make.
“It has been a bit challenging and we’ve had to work around those challenges,” said Hlungwani in an online press conference at the start of the buildup week to Friday night’s clash at the DHL Stadium.
“Usually at this stage (of the off-season) we are still in break mode or just at the start of the pre-season. We had to come back a bit earlier this year. We have got a group of players who have been playing in the Currie Cup, and there are a few guys who had an extra week or two added onto the previous season through playing for the SA A team, and of course, we also have a few Junior Boks.
“We managed to get everyone back a bit earlier because we knew we had this big game to prepare for and everyone is hungry to be part of it. It is massively challenging because of the time of year we are in, but we have been working together for three weeks now, and we do feel we have prepared really well for what will be a massive occasion for us as a club. For many of the players and coaches this will be a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
NOT SPECULATION, BUT LOGIC
The Stormers team is set to be announced on Thursday, and Hlungwani would not pre-empt that by being drawn on who will start, but he did confirm that the exciting 19-year-old flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed, who was a pivotal player in the Junior Springboks retaining their World Junior Rugby Championship title last month, has been training with the team.
“We will announce the team later in the week, but he (Ahmed) has been training with us, as has Oli Reid (the Junior Bok prop who made his debut for the Stormers in the last URC season). We have had a number of the Junior Boks who are not currently in the Currie Cup squad training with us.”
The speculation about Ahmed making his Stormers debut in the game against the All Blacks is just the product of logical deduction - Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is currently with the Boks and Jurie Matthee, his usual back-up, is out injured, while Kyle Smith is with the Currie Cup squad and played against the Sharks XV at the weekend.
With the Stormers XXIII down to play the Toyota Free State Cheetahs at Athlone Stadium on Sunday in a fourth round Currie Cup game, the wider Stormers squad will be divided into two distinctly different groups at this point, with, for instance, Ahmed’s Junior Bok backline teammate Markus Muller looking likely to be involved in the domestic game rather than the tour match.
No 8 Evan Roos and hooker Andre-Hugo Venter shouldn’t be struggling for match fitness as they have been involved with the Springboks, while Ahmed and Reid, if they play, have been playing for the Junior Boks, but otherwise the rest of the players have mostly been in off-season.
Someone likely to remain in off-season mode for now is JD Schickerling, the big lock who missed the last part of the previous URC campaign because of an injury, and while Hlungwani sounded like he was leaving it open to speculation, it is understood that he will not be risked against the All Blacks.
However, as Hlungwani explained, there are other options, with Adre Smith available to play as is Connor Evans, who was good in last season’s URC quarterfinal against Leinster in Dublin, while Zimbabwe international Gary Porter has been playing for WP in the Currie Cup.
Perhaps the big giveaway on Hlungwani’s part, though, was the mention that Ruan Ackermann, who did not play much because of injury in his first season for the Stormers, can also play lock.
Ackermann has a big reputation at the Stormers for his physicality and high work rate, and by missing the first three Currie Cup games he would now have served the suspension he incurred for the illegal clean-out that saw him red-carded in the URC semifinal.
Many blamed that incident for the Stormers’ loss, so Ackermann will be eager to repay his team by excelling against the All Blacks if, as he should be, he is selected.
Another player back from injury is Bok veteran Deon Fourie, who has been out for 10 weeks following his recuperation from the knee injury sustained in an illegal croc-roll challenge executed on him in the penultimate URC league match against Ulster in Belfast.