It was a typical pre-season clash between the Stormers and the Sharks in Johannesburg on Sunday.
You can’t read much into these games generally.
And it’s true, both teams made some silly errors as the Stormers won 2919.
Still, they showed some glimpses of what we can expect this year.
Personally, I wanted to take a
closer look at the depth in the Stormers squad.
I was excited to see former UCT captain Nama Xaba at No.6.
His best moment for me came in the 12th minute when the 22-year-old forced a turnover with the Sharks five metres away from the Stormers tryline.
Then there was loosehead prop Neethling Fouche.
BAD DAY OUT: Neethling Fouche. Picture: BACKPAGEPIX
Taken off after half time, the former Cheetahs didn’t enjoy the best of outings at scrum time.
I do believe, however, that it will be unfair to judge the players based on this game. So for now I am reserving judgement.
As for the Stormers, they have a lot of work to do if they want to make a big impact in this year’s Super Rugby competition.
With the rest of the squad also going down to the Kings on Friday night, it seems that their depth will be tested in 2020.
In terms of squad fitness, it looks like they’ve got some catching up to do. But we’ll only know for sure once they take the field against the
Hurricanes in two weeks.