RUGBY NEWS - After winning the Currie Cup final with a second-string pack the Stormers should have reason to go into the new Vodacom Super Rugby season in a confident mood, but the draw counts heavily against their chances of advancing further than last year’s quarterfinal finish.
With the squad set to embark on their three-match tour of Australasia the next day, and two tough matches in New Zealand awaiting them once they have negotiated a potentially perilous first stop in Sydney, it is imperative that the Stormers get their campaign off to a winning start when they host the Jaguares at Newlands on Saturday.
The Cape side does return for two home fixtures against the Blues and the Reds immediately after the tour, but they then face three tough away derbies – against the Bulls in Pretoria on Easter Saturday, the Lions in Johannesburg a week later, and then the timing of their first bye gives them a fortnight before they travel to Durban to play the Sharks.
No-one in their right mind would consider a fixture list like the one the Stormers face to be easy, and their coach Robbie Fleck knows it’s going to be tough. Making it even tougher for his charges is the fact that he has been hit with an early season injury list that will severely test his squad’s depth.
“It is not going to be easy for us to be touring without several of our more experienced players. That is when you need your top players to be present, but it is what it is,” says Fleck.
“There is no point in complaining about it, we just have to get on with it. The good thing about the situation we face is that there will be plenty of chance for fringe players to stake a claim and perhaps come though and prove they are ready to play Super Rugby. That will give us comfort later on in the competition when we do have the top players back. We will know we have the depth.”
Fortunately for Fleck there are some areas where he is spoilt for choice, and young players like Cobus Wiese and Jaco Coetzee gained experience in last year’s Currie Cup and have added considerably to the Stormers’ resources at loose-forward. Stephan de Witt is fit too after missing most of last season because of injury and the former Lions youngster, the one player in the squad who fits the out-and-out specialist fetcher mould, did show some signs of promise in the recent warm-up game against the Bulls.
However, the lack of an experienced fetcher has long been
