Tom Dawson-Squibb is grateful to have veteran hooker Scarra Ntubeni on board as the “underdogs” Stormers XXIII look to kick off their Currie Cup title bid on Friday.
Six debutants will line up for the club against defending champions Griquas at Cape Town Stadium, with Ntubeni on the bench – months after what looked to be his last professional appearance.
Dawson-Squibb on Thursday revealed the thinking behind the 35-year-old Springbok’s selection, after injuries have already left the Capetonians short on cover at No 2 this season.
“Right from the start, we had some good young hookers in the club: Vernon Paolo, Luca Bakkes and ‘Boepa’ [Lukhanyo] Vokozela. Unfortunately, Boepa and Luca have been ruled out for the competition before we even got going,” the head coach said.
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“It was always in the back of our minds that we don’t necessarily have four hookers, but that our fourth – Scarra – was a call away. It had to happen a little bit quicker.
“It’s a tribute to the guy as a human being that he’s come back. He’s been unbelievable in the meetings, he’s been training hard, he’s lending his experience… I said to him today, what a great way to go out in your career with an opportunity to win a trophy.”
Ntubeni’s role forms part blending youth with experience by the Stormers, in what will also be Dawson-Squibb’s first stint at the helm of a rebranded Western Province outfit in rugby’s oldest competition.
“It so happens that we’ve got some guys who’ve got lots of experience at different levels and it so happens that we’ve got some guys who are young,” he said.
“I personally love it. I think you get the exuberance of youth and then you get the exuberance of a more experienced player. It makes for a really rich dynamic.”
Captain Jean-Luc du Plessis added: “Skat, Oli Kebble, GG [Gerbrandt Grobler], Steph [Ungerer], Cornel Smit has also been around for a while… It really does help out a lot. I don’t have to focus on five, six different departments.
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“We have a very strong leadership group and everybody has their role. It’s always good to have some old heads around.”
Turning to Friday’s season-opener, Dawson-Squibb was happy to embrace underdog status against a Pieter Bergh-coached side he expects to be direct and physical.
“It’s an interesting position to sit in in a Stormers jersey as the underdogs, because of Griquas as defending champions, SA Cup finalists,” the former UCT Ikeys tactician said.
“I was listening to Pieter talk in the week about the amount of depth that they’ve built and the cohesion that they’ve built; they should be proud of what they’ve done and everyone in the country admires what Griquas have done.
“We know that they’ll be massively physical, we know that they’ll maul a lot. But we’ve been working hard and we’re excited with what we can show them.”
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
The post Stormers coach: Scarra always a call away appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Tom Dawson-Squibb is grateful to have veteran hooker Scarra Ntubeni on board as the “underdogs” Stormers XXIII look to kick off their Currie Cup title bid on Friday.
The post Stormers coach: Scarra always a call away appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
