The Stormers have lost several senior players in recent seasons, and there is a new bunch of stars ready to become Newlands' heroes. But who should lead the way in the 2017 Super Rugby tournament?
The Cape franchise has had some strong characters as captains over the last few years, such as Jean de Villiers, Schalk Burger and Duane Vermeulen. Then new coach Robbie Fleck decided to try something different in 2016 with a co-captaincy plan, which saw centre Juan de Jongh and tighthead prop Frans Malherbe take the reins.
Things didn’t work out, with De Jongh having to leave halfway through the campaign to join the Blitzboks for the Rio Olympics, while Malherbe was ruled out with injury. That saw Burger step in during the last few months of his Stormers career before jetting off to England for a last hurrah with Saracens.
While Burger was an inspirational figure at the time, it all ended in a nightmare 60-21 thrashing at the hands of the Chiefs in a Newlands playoff.
So now Fleck has to decide on a new captain again, and in line with the “winds of change” being espoused out of Newlands on every front, the Stormers are also doing things differently this time around – and that includes the captaincy.
They have been hard at work during the pre-season from November onwards, and completed their final camp in Hermanus at the weekend ahead of their first warm-up game against the Cheetahs in Zimbabweon January 28.
“We set ourselves some new challenges and new goals. We needed to make a few changes to our set-up, the way we approach things. Both from a managerial point of view and playing point of view – the players’ perspective as well – we had to make some major changes,” Fleck said.
“Not only the way we see the game, but the way we see ourselves. We had a really good off-season period, worked hard for six weeks and enforced some of those changes.
“Our leadership group is young. We have to put them through a serious leadership course to help them, most of them are around 25, and the rest of the group is closer to 21. There’s a core six guys who we will look at, and there will be one or two surprises. We will still decide if it’s a co-captaincy or a single captain.”
Those “core six guys” are sure to include De Jongh and Malherbe, but those surprises could include Springboks Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi and Nizaam Carr.
The Stormers don’t boast many big-name Boks, but few are bigger than Etzebeth – in every respect. Apart from his size, he has amassed 54 Test caps for the Springboks since 2012, and is the most senior player in the Stormers squad in that regard.
He may not have been seen as captaincy material in the past, but with the situation as it is, shouldn’t he step up in Super Rugby? Etzebeth is not a big talker, but could be one of those inspirational “lead by example” kinds of skippers.
And while he is an undoubted first-choice for the Boks, he was arguably not at his imposing best in what was admittedly an off-colour national side overall. Perhaps being in charge of his Super Rugby franchise could ignite that fire in the second-rower, and the added responsibility can only be beneficial in trying to keep Etzebeth in Cape Town going forward.
Kolisi and Carr are from the same generation as Etzebeth, so there will be mutual respect for both loose forwards should they be asked to take up the armband. Their places in the starting line-up should also be secure, and the close friends are also able to get their teammates through word and deed.
One thing Fleck should consider avoiding is the co-captaincy. South African rugby players tend to respond positively to a definitive leader, the man who calls the shots. Of course the captain would be assisted, but there must be one player who has the final say.
Bearing in mind that Etzebeth – should he be appointed as the Stormers captain – may need to sit out the odd game due to Springbok considerations, others such as Kolisi and Carr can step in when required.
De Jongh led Western Province to the Currie Cup in 2014, and is someone who enjoys being in a leadership role.
But as Fleck said, though, the Stormers do need to change “the way we approach things”. There has been a shake-up off the field, and there must be one on it too.
@ashfakmohamed
Independent Media