The Stormers have had to call back some of their URC squad early from their off season to face the All Blacks.
Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani says it has been a tough build-up for the team for their clash against the All Blacks at the Cape Town Stadium on Friday night. Picture: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani admitted that it has been a tough build-up to their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) tour game against the All Blacks at the Cape Town Stadium on Friday, but said that the Stormers were fully up and ready for the challenge.
Ordinarily this would be the middle of the Stormers United Rugby Championship squads off season, with their next campaign to kick off at the end of September, but due to their match against the All Blacks, a number of the squad have had to return to training earlier.
Thus a number of players have not yet received a sufficient break, but will undoubtedly be extremely excited to face the Haka and test themselves against the Springboks biggest rivals the All Blacks.
Challenging
“It has been a bit challenging and we’ve had to work around those challenges. 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,” explained Hlungwani at a Stormers press conference on Monday.
“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.
“So 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.”
Possible selections
Although he didn’t want to give anything away, Hlungwani admitted that exciting Junior Springbok star flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed was training with the URC squad and would be in the running to feature in Friday nights match.
“We will announce the team later in the week, but he (Ahmed) has been training with us, as has Oli Reid (Junior Bok prop). We have had a number of the Junior Boks who are not currently in the Currie Cup squad training with us,” said Hlungwani.
A position that they may struggle to fill is lock, after both Salmaan Moerat and Ruben van Heerden left the franchise after the past season, while some players are injured, or returning to fitness from injury, including former Junior Bok captain Riley Norton.
“JD (Schickerling) is moving around well at training, but we’re not sure if we want to push him for this game. Riley is also back running after his injury with the Springboks, but again we’re not sure if we want to risk him this weekend,” explained Hlungwani.
“Adre Smith is available, Connor Evans is available, and Ruan Ackermann has played lock before, so we do have options.”
