RETURNING TO WHERE IT ALL STARTED
When Cheslin Kolbe’s return to the Stormers became a fait accompli over the weekend it reminded me of John Dobson’s introduction of the then unknown future double World Cup winner to the Cape media.
It was 2012, and Dobson was the coach of the Western Province Vodacom Cup team. Kolbe was just 19, but Dobson was adamant that he’d become “a global superstar”. It sounded a bit fanciful. While Kolbe had played representative schools rugby, he wasn’t considered a standout talent like, for instance, Markus Muller was.
But here we are 14 years later and Kolbe is returning to his roots as the global superstar Dobson said he would become.
The thing is, if it had not been for Dobson, the world might not have had the privilege of seeing Kolbe revolutionise wing play as a member of the all-conquering Springbok team. In an interview I did with him for Kickoff magazine a few months ago, Kolbe reminded me that at the time he was called up to play in the Vodacom Cup for WP, he wasn’t sure he was going to continue with his rugby career. He made no bones about it, the call from Dobson changed his life.
And Dobson’s effusive public endorsement at the time of his first selection was also a strong motivator to him - not only back then, but throughout his career.
“Actually, when it came out there was a huge thing about it and my son watches it all the time. It was a nice thing to hear,” said Kolbe.
“It gives you confidence and makes you believe in yourself. It was a big motivator, but yes I was very young and had done nothing big in the 15-man game to that point so it was quite a weird feeling to hear that. At that time I had just signed a one-year contract to play Vodacom Cup for WP after my career had reached a bit of a crossroads. I nearly gave up rugby at that point of my life.”
What was he thinking of doing?
“I was thinking of going to study. I wasn’t too sure then. I just wasn’t sure I wanted to carry on with rugby. I’d played age-group rugby for WP but wasn’t sure if I was going to make it in the professional ranks and whether it was a career choice for me. But then I got that call from Dobbo and it changed my life.”
Kolbe, now 32, told me in that interview of his strong desire to come back to his roots and repay the people who had given him his foot up in rugby. And now he’s doing it, not just to the benefit of the Stormers but to the SA rugby eco-system as a whole.
NO, STORMERS ARE NOT FOLLOWING THE SHARKS’ LEAD
"So are the Stormers making the same mistake as the Sharks have made?" The question was asked with reference to the Sharks’ policy when their American equity partners first came in of contracting marquee, first-choice Springboks. It proved to be the height of folly and Dobson is aware of the pitfalls of following that path. He’s sensitive about it too because he’s made an effort to stress that he is not “going the Galactico route”. And I completely get it.
Kolbe is one of three current Springbok match-day 23 players who will be linking up with the Stormers next season, the other being Siya Kolisi (moving from the Sharks) and Wilco Louw (moving from the Bulls).
I am not sure what money Louw will be getting, but like the other two, he is returning home. He is from Ceres, and his move back to the Stormers, where he played his initial senior provincial rugby, was directed by the need to be nearer the family farm.
I do know the figures in the case of Kolbe and Kolisi and what needs to be said is that Dobson is in no way exaggerating when he talks of financial sacrifice being made by both players.
Kolisi’s reasons for wanting to be in Cape Town were well publicised a full year before a move back from Durban was decided. Kolisi has personal reasons for wanting to be back and while the Stormers wouldn’t want it to appear they are doing him a favour, Dobson’s wording in a press conference summed it up: “He made it palatable for us”. Meaning his return is not breaking the bank.
The way I understand it, the Bok captain will be receiving mainly SA Rugby money from now on, with his Stormers deal being mainly match fee-focused.
Kolbe is also not coming back for anything near the figure that was offered to him back in 2022. He’s coming home because he wants to be home and during my interview with him last December his passion for the Stormers came through very strongly. It was clear he watches and follows their games from afar.
IT’S NOT SCATTER-GUN RECRUITING
That the players are coming to Cape Town without making big financial demands is one obvious big difference between the Stormers and the Sharks. If you are not breaking the bank to employ a player, there is less pressure on the coach to play him in every game he is available for.
The other big difference is the science behind the recruitments. If you speak to Dobson, you get the impression he has already discussed with Kolisi which games he will be available for and which he won’t be, and how many games he will be expected to play. In the case of Kolbe, there is a shortfall at wing, actually make that back three because I fully expect to see Kolbe play a game or two at fullback for the Stormers, that needed addressing.
It wasn’t a case of “There’s a big name so let’s buy him”, which was the problem with the Sharks, who in 2021 recruited Boks who didn’t fit into the game model employed by their then coach Sean Everitt. In so doing they also scuppered Everitt’s plans for the talented youngsters he’d worked with at age-group level.
The Sharks gave the impression that they did their recruitment in scatter-gun fashion while completely oblivious to the realities of current SA rugby, with the commitment to the Rugby Championship in what should be the off-season, meaning there are periods when the top players are not available.
The Stormers are aware of that and were frontrunners on the URC log for long tracts of a campaign where they had considerably fewer current Boks on their books than either the Sharks or the Bulls. They have an army of young talented players in the process of establishing themselves so they can probably survive in those games where Kolbe, Kolisi and Louw, and for that matter Cobus Reinach, Damian Willemse and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, are not available.
The Sharks have changed their contracting model and that should work for them going forward but the vast chasm between the quality of the team that plays when the Boks are available and the team that plays when they are absent is one of the reasons they have been so inconsistent during the now five years they have been participating in the URC.
THOMAS AND THE GIANT ARE SHARKS’ VERSION OF CHESLIN
So let’s get something straight - the Galactico contracting model isn’t itself the problem. If the Sharks are ever to achieve their stated objective of winning the Champions Cup, they will need Galactico stars. Beating the current champions, Bordeaux-Begles, will require an almost international strength team.
What is a problem is big-name contracting that is blind to the all-important aspects that make a rugby team connect and tick - often glibly put under the umbrella of “team culture”.
Dobson is working on turning some of his developing stars into Galactico players, which is his often-referred-to Project 2029. Players like Paul de Villiers, Imad Khan and Markus Muller may well be Galactico stars by then and rubbing shoulders with big names will help facilitate that. Willemse, who is likely to extend his contract until at least 2029, is a Galactico already, so is Feinberg-Mngomezulu, and it was interesting to hear Khan talk this week about the benefits of having Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s experience to draw on.
But it is important for the growth to happen within an established team culture, and the Stormers have many players who have done that. There has been renewal since then, but more at least half the likely team to play against Cardiff in Saturday’s URC quarterfinal were part of the inaugural title-winning season of 2021/2022.
Dobson spoke about the impact that the return of Deon Fourie and Brok Harris, two Stormers veterans who had been away for many years, had on redirecting or endorsing the existing team culture back then, and Kolisi and Kolbe can play a similar role.
Kolbe in particular, because he is likely to play for quite a few more seasons, can play a similar role to the one Andre Esterhuizen has fulfilled at the Sharks. The return of the man known as Andre the Giant in the second year of John Plumtree’s reign as coach was easily the best buy the Sharks have made. Like with Kolbe and the Stormers, there was a strong pre-existing connection.
Given how poor the Sharks have generally been, it is disturbing from their perspective to imagine where they might be were it not for Esterhuizen’s strong commitment to the club he was first aligned to when he was still an age-group player. Esterhuizen has been a consistent bringer of energy and it may not be a coincidence that he is also a Shark of long standing.
Thomas du Toit could next year provide similar value to the Sharks to that which Esterhuizen has provided. Du Toit and Esterhuizen first came through at the Sharks in the same season - it was way back in the solitary year, 2014, that Jake White coached them.
Getting the balance between star experienced returnees who can add value, like Kolbe and Kolisi at the Stormers and Esterhuizen and hopefully Du Toit at the Sharks, and younger players being bled into the system is key and is what Dobson meant when he said there was a tipping point.
I know of at least one former star Stormers player who is eager to join Kolbe in finishing his career in Cape Town, but Dobson is right in thinking twice because there is a delicate balance that shouldn’t be disturbed if the Stormers are to continue building on what is already working for them.
NOT UNDERSTANDING THE ENGLISH TIZZY OVER JANSE VAN RENSBURG
He won’t be facing the Springboks in the eagerly awaited first ever Nations Cup fixture at Ellis Park on 4 July, but South African-born Bernhard Janse van Rensburg has certainly attracted a lot of attention after being called up to the England squad by Steve Borthwick.
Janse van Rensburg played a few minutes for the South Africa under-20 team several years ago but the RFU fought hard to have that removed as a reason he couldn’t qualify for England after his five-year residency requirement had been met, and they succeeded. Clearly the Bristol centre is highly valued for them to go to that effort and it made complete sense for the England coach to include him in his squad at the earliest opportunity - while he won’t be qualified in time to face his countrymen, he will be eligible to play for England against Fiji a week later.
Obviously when someone is added to a squad there are players who are left out, and it shouldn’t really surprise me that, judging from the theme of the comments sections of some UK newspapers, there’s opposition to players born and bred in England missing out to someone who has spent most of his life in South Africa.
Well, maybe I should rephrase that - it wouldn’t surprise me if it weren’t for the fact that I follow cricket closely and have seen so many foreign-born players play for England in that sport that it has ceased to be a talking point.
Before Joe Root arrived on the scene the best England batsman (well outside of Graham Gooch), at least since the mid 1970s, was born in Pietermaritzburg. No English people complained when Kevin Pietersen plundered the Proteas attack and they wouldn’t have won the 2005 Ashes without him.
The England captain when I first started following cricket was born in Komani, although Tony Greig would only ever have known it as Queenstown, and if you were to ask me to rank the top 10 England batsmen of the past nearly 50 years, two other South African-born players, Allan Lamb and Robin Smith, would also feature.
So why the fuss when the same thing happens in rugby? It is at least partially rooted in the RFU’s ban on overseas-based English players being selected for England, which prompted some sarcastic headlines about Borthwick preferring foreign-born players to players born in England. It’s a fair point.
WE SHOULD WANT TO MEASURE OURSELVES AGAINST THE FRENCH
Of course the RFU have that ineligibility rule to protect their club game, and there’s been an intensification of the focus on the riches and quality of the French Top 14 compared to their Gallagher Premiership since last week’s Champions Cup final.
The magnitude of Bordeaux’s win over Leinster underlined a widening chasm between the French clubs and the rest and stretched the period of French dominance to well beyond the half-decade mark. There have been six French wins in a row since Exeter Chiefs won the elite European competition in 2019/2020.
There are many reasons why French rugby is so strong - among them the fact that the well-populated south west of France is one of the few parts of the world where rugby union is above soccer in popularity, the lack of a salary cap in French rugby and the obscene amounts of money the top French clubs have to play with.
But for me, the takeaway from yet another French win, and particularly the way it was achieved in the final against a near international strength Leinster team, is that it underlines why the Champions Cup is a competition SA should want to be a part of. To have any chance of becoming the best you need to measure yourself against the best and while there might be some arguments forwarded by the Kiwis who denigrate the Champions Cup, it would be idiotic to deny that the French clubs are the best right now.
Were the Champions Cup run on a league basis over a season, you’d probably have three French teams in the top five on the log, with Leinster and possibly Bath as the challengers to that domination. There’s a massive difference in budgets, I know, but the French dominance means SA clubs can’t be happy with just playing in the URC. They need to be exposed to what the excellent French teams bring, and hopefully one day reach a point where they can match and even beat them.