Eben Etzebeth
The struggles the DHL Stormers have endured through the past 2 Vodacom Super Rugby seasons may well be ascribed to the limited appearances made in the jersey during that time by the powerful Springbok second row forward Eben Etzebeth.
It is normally considered a stretch to suggest that one man makes a team, and it would be if you said such a thing about Etzebeth with the Stormers and Western Province for it is true that Duane Vermeulen is at least as valuable and influential. However that missing Etzebeth is akin to going without a clutch of players rather than just one is undeniable.
The statistics will bear out that claim too – in 2013 the Stormers were struggling when Etzebeth returned from injury. They lost the first match they played with him back, one in which they were robbed by the TMO against the Rebels in Melbourne, but after that they won 6 in a row. Last year he was out for the entire season with an injury sustained in the last test match of the previous year, and the Stormers struggled.
So it should come as great news to the supporters of the Cape franchise that Etzebeth will be making a rare appearance in the Stormers jersey when he makes his comeback to regional rugby in the Super Rugby warm-up match against the Toyota Cheetahs at Newlands on Friday. It will in fact be his first feel of the Stormers jersey since the last match of the 2013 season.
Etzebeth’s absence last season did have one silver lining in that it afforded an opportunity for other players to develop, and Jean Kleyn did that. The young lock has now turned his back on an alternative career in academia and committed himself to being a professional rugby player, and on the evidence of his performances in the Currie Cup last year, he has a great rugby career ahead of him.
He will join Etzebeth in making his return to the Stormers mix on Friday and it will be interesting to see how he is accommodated given that both he and Etzebeth are No 4 locks. Will Stormers coach Allister Coetzee consider fielding Etzebeth as a middle of the lineout jumper, a role he is not a complete stranger to, in the time that Ruan Botha remains sidelined with injury.
Not that there will be much of a wait for Botha’s return, for although he still finds himself on the list of Stormers injured, the former Lions and national age-group star is expected back onto the training field in the next fortnight. That won’t be in time to be ready for the opening Super Rugby derby against the Bulls in Pretoria, but it will be in enough time for him to play a major part in the season ahead.
Of course Coetzee will be hoping that the next two weeks don’t change the landscape for him in terms of injuries. Etzebeth was sidelined with an ankle injury sustained playing against the Boland Cavaliers at the Cape Town Stadium in 2013, and there have been other players down the years, such as former hooker Tiaan Liebenberg, who have had their Super Rugby seasons truncated before they have even started.
Malherbe is set to return to the selection mix soon while two additional Stormers Boks, Nizaam Carr and Siya Kolisi, remain unavailable at this stage as they recover from a viral infection, in the case of Carr, and a hamstring injury respectively.
The Stormers team for the Cheetahs game will be named after training at the High Performance Centre in Bellville on Tuesday afternoon.
SuperSport