Boks left behind for Stormers URC tour

Boks left behind for Stormers URC tour

Stormers coach John Dobson has named a 28-man squad for their upcoming three-match tour to Italy and Wales in the United Rugby Championship, leaving four Springbok forwards at home.

Springbok props Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe, as well as hooker Joseph Dweba and flank Deon Fourie have all been omitted from the squad for what seems to be load management by the reigning URC champions.

Kitshoff, Malherbe, Dweba and Fourie all featured for the Boks during the recent Castle Lager Rugby Championship and appear to have been rested as per agreement with the national coaches as they are likely to be included in the end-of-year European tour.

Meanwhile, another Bok quartet in Salmaan Moerat, Marvin Orie, Evan Roos, Herschel Jantjies and Damian Willemse have all been included for the Stormers' clashes against Zebre (8 October), Ospreys (14 October) and Cardiff (22 October).

"This is a very important tour for a few different reasons and we want to make sure we keep building. Our opening two wins have got us off to a good start, but we need to show that we can do the job away from home as well," Dobson told the Stormer's website.

"There are a few players in this group who are hungry to make their mark, so this will be a good opportunity for them to show what they can do going forward."

After coming from behind to beat Edinburgh at Cape Town Stadium at the weekend, Dobson was full of praise of his charges' effort and determination to get over the line and register a bonus point.

œI™m not irritated with my team for their discipline at all, maybe it was just our work rate which put our discipline under pressure. Half-time was about our pack working harder and fronting up because if we don™t work so hard then defensively we are making more tackles and, of course, our discipline, which is related because once you are on the back foot you start giving away penalties," Dobson said.

œThe thing with rugby now is that penalties equal territory and possession and we got on the wrong end of that. We showed character again, it was very similar to last week because we were under the pump for a long time. I™m pleased with the result, but I said to the team after the game, ˜Imagine what we could do if we could get some possession.'"

The champions are currently fourth on the standings, though they have a game in hand on Ulster, the Bulls and Leinster who occupy third, second and first respectively.

Stormers' traveling squad:

Kwenzo Blose, Angelo Davids, Hacjivah Dayimani, Paul de Wet, Ben-Jason Dixon, Dan du Plessis, Willie Engelbrecht, Neethling Fouche, Brok Harris, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Herschel Jantjies, Alapati Leuia, Manie Libbok, Godlen Masimla, Salmaan Moerat, Sacha Mngomezulu, Marvin Orie, Junior Pokomela, Evan Roos, Adre Smith, Chad Solomon, Marcel Theunissen, Ernst van Rhyn, Andre-Hugo Venter, Ali Vermaak, Damian Willemse, Nama Xaba, Leolin Zas

By Web Admin