Stormers centre Ruhan Nel is studying international import Jamie Roberts closely.
Having paired up for the first time at Newlands in last weekend’s 27-0 win over the Hurricanes, the 28-year-old Nel knows he will be foolish if he doesn’t learn the tricks of the trade from one of the most experienced midfielders in world rugby.
At 33, Wales and British and Irish Lion Roberts has seen it all.
Nel is aware of that and understands that if he wants to reach the highest level of the game, he couldn’t have asked for a more experienced mentor.
Having defended their channel with all they have against the Canes, Nel is adamant that there is still room for improvement.
KEEN STUDENT: Ruhan Nel
Of playing next to Roberts, he says: “I believe it went quite well [against the Hurricanes, but], it can go better - we’ve only been training together for one week.
“So it’s obviously going to take time before we can properly gel together.
“But as a start I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
“He’s a guy with a lot of experience.
“He’s been around playing rugby, so if you don’t ask questions to benefit from his experience to help your game, it’d actually be a waste.”
As a team, Nel also feels they wasted some opportunities against the Canes, but he says they can make up for it when they host the Bulls at the same venue on Saturday.
Nel explains: “There were one or two opportunities where we felt we could have got more points, but we just lost the ball in contact and made silly errors.
“The good thing is that we know there are opportunities out there if you look after the ball.
“It is something we addressed and will work hard on.”
The Bulls, though, went down to the Sharks in their opening round.
But Nel says they will never underestimate their north-south rivals.
CONTROL: Morne Steyn
He adds: “A north-south derby is always a good matchup.
“I don’t think that will be any different...
“It was only week one - it’s still a long season.
“I’m sure the Bulls will be out to rectify their performance from last week.
“They are coming off a loss and will be hurting.
“The Bulls are very physical, Morne [Steyn] controls the game very well for the, so it will be stupid to underestimate them and think it will be a walkover.”