Just one week after turning 20 and a year out of school, Yaqeen Ahmed will be making his DHL Stormers debut against the mighty All Blacks on Friday night as the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour kicks off under the DHL Stadium lights.
As anticipated, Stormers coach John Dobson has gone all in for this historic game, with his quandary of whether to go underdone or under-strength eventually being settled on the side of underdone, which is something that can’t be avoided given the fact the game falls outside of the regular season for South African professional clubs that participate in the European competitions.
Given that Dobson has several players missing to Springbok duty, including the world’s best flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, arguably the best fullback in Damian Willemse, new recruits Cheslin Kolbe and Wilco Louw, who have both returned to Cape Town after a few years away, plus veteran Bok first-choice scrumhalf Cobus Reinach and utility forward Ben-Jason Dixon, plus of course the sensational Bok newcomer Paul de Villiers, the team to face the All Blacks is a strong one.
DAYIMANI’S PRESENCE REFLECTS DESIRE TO MOVE THE BALL
Although it would appear the Stormers’ best chances of competing with the All Blacks might revolve around it being a set-piece battle, Dobson has selected a team that is perfectly capable of moving the ball round, with Hacjivah Dayimani packing down on the blindside flank ahead of the man who would have been a more physical option, Ruan Ackermann.
Ackermann is in the match-day squad, where he appears to be covering lock, a position that has been weakened by the injury to JD Schickerling and the departure of Salmaan Moerat and newly capped Springbok second row forward Ruben van Heerden.
Had a combination of those three been present, the Stormers would have had a much better chance of prevailing as they seek to emulate the 1976 Western Province team, who famously beat the All Blacks with a late touchline conversion from Robbie Blair.
However, the concerns about the Stormers’ lack of battle-hardened readiness aside, with this effectively being their first game of the pre-season buildup to a Vodacom URC season that only begins at the end of September, it is a strong team that reflects the depth that Dobson has built up in several positions in recent years.
SENATLA WILL BRING PACE OUT WIDE
The team will be led by the man who has become the regular captain in the absence and then subsequent departure of Moerat, centre Ruhan Nel, and he has a fit again speedster in Seabelo Senatla lining up outside him on the right wing.
Leolin Zas has become a stalwart on the other wing, while Warrick Gelant at fullback is a capped Bok and is one of the best in his position when he is in form.
The DHL Stormers team to face the All Blacks on Friday night in the #RugbysGreatestRivalry opener in Cape Town ⛈️🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/ea2RDBoZVZ
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The young and promising Jonathan Roche lines up alongside Nel in the midfield, and if there is one concern about the backline it is that the most experienced players in it are all outside backs.
But there is certainly no lack of talent among the inside backs, with Ahmed being regarded by many as a doppelganger for Feinberg-Mngomezulu and a man who shone in the Junior Springboks’ triumphant march to a second successive Junior World Rugby Championship title.
The old boy of Wynberg Boys High has a big future in front of him and is a wonderfully talented player and he is one of a few players who should not be short of match fitness after being part of the World Championship in Georgia, which ended two weeks ago.
Alongside him he has a halfback partner in Imad Khan who was part of the extended national squad, as was Ahmed, that was called up for the opening phase of the Bok preparations to the new season before the Barbarians game in Gqeberha on 20 June.
Khan, like Feinberg-Mngomezulu an old boy of Bishops, has long been regarded as a future Bok and the 22-year-old experienced his breakthrough season in the last Stormers URC campaign.
TOUGH BAPTISM BUT A GREAT EXPERIENCE
It is going to be a tough baptism for the youthful halfback partnership but the experience of playing the All Blacks will be huge for their development, regardless of the result, and how many people can say, like Ahmed will be able to do, that they made their senior first-class debut against the All Blacks?
A reflection of the depth that the Stormers have available in the front row is Ntuthuko Mchunu, who was released by the Boks to play in this game, being only a bench player.
Once the starting loosehead Vernon Matongo has qualified to play for South Africa - he has lived for over a decade in this country and went to school at Northwood in KZN but was born in Zimbabwe - he is sure to become a Bok himself.
Alongside him Matongo has two capped Boks in the form of hooker Andre-Hugo Venter, who along with Evan Roos and Mchunu (subsequently recalled) was released by the Boks at the end of the home leg of the Nations Championship, and Neethling Fouche packing down alongside him.
Adre Smith is the sole survivor of last year’s impressive quartet of locks that helped the Stormers get off to a flying start in the URC, but Connor Evans is considered to have a bright future and he impressed in the URC semifinal defeat to Leinster in Dublin in early June.
FOURIE BRINGS EXPERIENCE
The return of the nearly 40 year old veteran Bok World Cup winner Deon Fourie from injury has partly offset the loss of De Villiers to the Boks, and while Dayimani is a different type of player to the other absent Bok loose-forward, Dixon, he has been around the block a few times as a player and could trouble the All Blacks with his freaky pace.
Then there’s Roos, who many Capetonians will consider to be unlucky to not be with the Boks and who has plenty to prove in this match.
The bench is not too shabby either considering there are so many players missing, with JJ Kotze having been a member of a recent Bok squad, and ditto Mchunu, while Sazi Sandi is an underrated tighthead.
Then there’s Ackermann who can cover both lock and loose-forward and Keke Morabe, who won’t be short of match fitness after playing in the Carling Currie Cup, veteran scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage and Wandisile Simelane, who can cover centre and fullback.
DHL Stormers team to play All Blacks on Friday at DHL Stadium, kick-off 19.10: Warrick Gelant, Seabelo Senatla, Ruhan Nel (captain), Jonathan Roche, Leolin Zas, Yaqeen Ahmed, Imad Khan, Evan Roos, Hacjivah Dayimani, Deon Fourie, Connor Evans, Adre Smith, Neethling Fouche, Andre-Hugo Venter, Vernon Matongo.
Replacements: JJ Kotze, Nthuthuko Mchunu, Sazi Sandi, Ruan Ackermann, Keke Morabe, Wandile Mlaba, Dewaldt Duvenage, Wandisile Simelane.