Stormers right to look abroad
10 May 2012
JON CARDINELLI says it’s ludicrous to suggest the recruitment of a foreign Test player is a slight on the Western Cape loose-forward contingent given what’s transpired over the last three months.
Seconds after Canadian international Jebb Sinclair was named on the Stormers bench, the Twittersphere was ablaze with indignation. A lot of people alleged that the recruitment of Sinclair sent the wrong message to younger players in the Western Cape’s junior ranks.
Others were even angrier, spewing vitriol at the Cape union for gross mismanagement. This group said it was little wonder younger players accepted offers from overseas clubs or competing Super Rugby franchises. The Stormers and WP, they argued, don’t give youngsters enough opportunities.
The timing of these allegations couldn’t have been worse. If one stops to consider the evidence, the allegations are actually quite absurd.
There have been times when the Stormers have got it wrong, as Francois Hougaard and Johann Sadie are but two promising Cape-reared players who defected to other franchises due to a lack of opportunities. It is because of these defections that there is a perception in South Africa that the Cape union is guilty of squandering its young talent.
On this occasion, however, to say the Stormers management is guilty of not backing their youth and structures couldn’t be further off the mark.
An eight-from-nine record in the 2012 Super Rugby competition could not have been achieved had the Stormers coaches not backed the younger players. The Stormers started the first game with two 20-year-olds, Steven Kitshoff and Eben Etzebeth, in the run-on team, as well as another two 20-year-olds in Siya Kolisi and Frans Malherbe, on the bench.
Over the course of 10 games, these youngsters have been granted ample opportunity and, in the case of Kolisi, have stepped into the starting side when a key player has been injured. Aside from Schalk Burger, the Stormers have also had to deal with further long-term injuries to Nick Koster and Duane Vermeulen. This has forced coach Allister Coetzee to hand Nizaam Carr his first Super Rugby cap.
That the Stormers won three from four on their recent tour to Australasia doesn’t mean that they are not in a precarious situation. They are just one injury away from a massive crisis, and are going into a phase of the competition where they will play four physical encounters in a row.
They need to keep winning to keep their hopes of topping the South African conference alive, and while Kolisi, Ryhardt Elstadt and Carr are set to start the majority if not all four of those games, they will need some quality in reserve.
This is the message Coetzee tried to convey on Monday. The Stormers had been working to bring Francois Louw back to Cape Town for the four-game stint. When it didn’t work out, they brought in Sinclair, a Canada international with 25 Tests to his name and a season with London Irish under the belt.
Because of injuries incurred earlier in the season, the Stormers have already been forced to promote Carr and Don Armand from the Vodacom Cup, and while the promotion has coincided with success Down Under, Coetzee is concerned that the next rung of young loose forwards are not equipped to cover the No 8 or blindside position at Super Rugby level.
Indignant fans should not be asking why the young players at WP are being neglected, because as seen through the blooding of Kolisi, Etzebeth, Kitshoff, Carr and Armand over the course of the current season, this clearly isn’t the case.
The question should rather be: Who the hell is Jebb Sinclair? And why out of all the possible recruits, has Coetzee brought in a player from far-flung Canada?
It didn’t come as a surprise to me when the request for Louw was turned down, and I’m sure there were a few other high profile players who would have come to Cape Town if not for their commitment to overseas clubs and national teams.
It’s a bad time to be sending out an SOS for an experienced loose forward. The Stormers have a gruelling schedule lined up for the next four weeks, and not many clubs are willing to risk key players before the start of the European season, or indeed four weeks before the June Test window opens.
The reasoning behind the recruitment of Sinclair is that he is a big strong player at 111kg and 1.93m, and will be able to play a powerful defensive and ball-carrying role. This is why players such as Nick Fenton-Wells and Rohan Kitshoff have been overlooked for Super Rugby promotion.
The Stormers are looking for players who have experience at Super Rugby or Premiership level and who can play No 7 and 8. Fenton-Wells may have been playing No 8 in the Vodacom Cup (which is not his preferred position), but Coetzee feels Fenton-Wells would not cope in that position in the far more demanding Super Rugby environment.
I don’t know if Sinclair will prove an inspired recruitment or not, but I agree with Coetzee’s argument that a strong and experienced player was needed to cover the existing loose trio combination of Kolisi, Elstadt and Carr.
The Stormers have already shown that they are committed to backing their youngsters, and that shouldn’t be in question. And at this stage of the competition they are also under pressure to maintain their winning momentum. Having a specialist in the position who also boasts experience at this level is only going to help their cause.
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56 Comments
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10 May 2012, 14:19 pm
@BreakdownBoy(goodstuff)-49: Sadie is a good player.
He is just struggling outside a 12 that attacks the advantage line with his outside shoulder. Olivier prefers playing with a 13 that cuts inside him in scissor fashion, which JJ does so well.
Sadie performs better next to a straight running 12 or a passing 12, such as Francois Venter.
Ludeke is spot-on with his combinations.
10 May 2012, 14:26 pm
@Hondo(Hondo)-50:
“When they get that ‘chance’ it comes at the expencese of a competent, up and coming young refree with a potential, bear it in mind”
OK, we all know that the above is Hondo-speak for a “white” up and coming referee. Now, to prove to us who these young white referee/s is/are, perhaps you should name them and allow people to form an opinion about WHO is the better ref at this stage of their career.
Rasta or “the competent, up and coming young referee with potential.”
At least it is not Ratsa Dumisane. If he refs the way he sings, there’d only be one outcome.
10 May 2012, 14:30 pm
@Stormtrooper(Stormtrooper)-16: I totally agree. Why everyone is shouting Sadie Sadie Sadie I don’t know. He may have talent but he is only showing at a very very slow rate.
10 May 2012, 16:25 pm
Totally disagree with you Jon. I am not someone who always says WP waste their talent, but in this case, they shouldve gone to someone like Piter Louw (recently discarded by Stormers).
He did the same excellent stand-in job for Schalk in 2010 or 2011. He is perhaps more of a “fetcher” but he has the experience of S15 and proven himself to excel at that level.
Let’s be honest – being a Canadian international doesnt mean very much with the level they play at.
2ndy he has been playing in the grey, cold mud of England. Even Schalk Brits looked a tiny bit off the pace when he helped the Stormers out last year. And he runs around like a winger that sniffed gunpowder in the UK!
This Jeb oke is gonna come in, not knowing the structures, defensive patterns etc. and then get blown away by the speed of a S15 game.
If it was an International like Dusatoir then I would say no problem
But how good is a Canadian flanker playing for London Irish?
Now I do hope I have to eat my words, but there are too many instances of players looking like Supermen in the UK and struggling back in SA…
10 May 2012, 18:08 pm
Gee whatever happened to the social side of rugby, the beauty of playing with people from all walks of life. All the worthy/rated looses have been given a chance to playing or are injured playing. Nothing wrong with given a guy from a minnow country some experience in Super Rugby for a couple of weeks. It is hardly going to impact the national team but will help build relations with other rugby playing nations.
10 May 2012, 18:09 pm
Okay should have read before posting, no use correcting as there are too many mistakes.!
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