The Stormers’ ‘critical path’ and Paul de Villiers’ captaincy experiment should afford Wandisile Simelane another crack at outside centre next week.
Originally not named in the match 23, Simelane started at 13 in Saturday’s Investec Champions Cup win over the Bristol Bears at Cape Town Stadium, following a late withdrawal by skipper Ruhan Nel due to a calf injury. De Villiers took over the captaincy.
The versatile Simelane, who featured off the bench in the Stormers’ first three games of the season, made 15 starts in 22 club appearances last term across all competitions.
Dobson expects Nel to be sidelined for at least a week, ruling him out of next Saturday’s URC clash against the Scarlets in Cape Town and opens a gap for Simelane in midfield.
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“We’ve got to get him more [game time]. He covers 15 for us, benched on the wing and handled the contestables last week,” the Stormers coach said. “He obviously wants a crack at 13, but it’s tough when your regular captain is there.
“This experiment with Paul would allow us to give Wandi more opportunities.
“Ruan is 35, he’s not going to play every game, but Wandi does deserve more rugby than what we’ve probably given him, and he deserves to be in his position.
“That’s why we call it the critical path. If we can just plan and say to him, ‘Wandi, you’re going to miss out this week, you’ve got two benches, you’ve got two starts,’ the guys know where they stand.”
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Dobson had rejigged his front row minus Springbok tighthead Wilco Louw, while No 8 Evan Roos replaced the concussed Hacjivah Dayimani for his first outing of 2026-27.
He reiterated there will be no wholesale changes up until and including the 31 October Ulster fixture, yet the likes of De Villiers, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Damian Willemse will need a rest before the November international break.
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“Somebody wrote somewhere, ‘Wilco Louw dropped’ … What’s important is that we stick to the critical path,” Dobson said.
“At some stage, Sacha’s going to need a break, otherwise we’re going to destroy him for the Nations Championship and just what he’s been through [in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series].
“The same applies to Damian, and we’ve got a plan with Paul. I don’t think we’ve seen anything [on Saturday] that’s going to cause us to panic.”
Photo: INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/Thinus Maritz
The post ‘Wandi deserves more rugby’ appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
The Stormers’ ‘critical path’ and Paul de Villiers’ captaincy experiment should afford Wandisile Simelane another crack at outside centre next week.
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