Du Plessis to captain Stormers, Willemse set to return

Experienced Stormers utility back Dan du Plessis will lead the team on their tour of the UK and Italy, as they prepare to open their United Rugby Championship (URC) season against Ospreys in Swansea on Saturday.

The Stormers are missing their two regular captains, Salmaan Moerat who is still on Springbok duty, and prop Steven Kitshoff who is recovering from a neck injury picked up during their Currie Cup campaign.

Du Plessis will thus step in for the tour that will see them move from Wales to Italy, to take on Zebre, and finish off in Scotland against Edinburgh before they return home.

Although Du Plessis is taking over the captaincy reins, assistant coach Dawie Snyman explained that they have a strong leadership group that will be assisting during the tour.

“Dan du Plessis will take the captaincy now when we’re on tour and obviously when Salmaan and Steven are back, we’ll make the next decision in terms of who’s available,” said Snyman.

“It’s not just around one person, we do have a leadership group so we want our senior players to take responsibility in certain areas of the game.

“But like I said, once Salmaan and Steven are back in camp it will probably be in terms of who’s selected and how we’re going to go forward from there.”

Welcomed boost

The Stormers are set to be boosted by the return from injury of Bok star Damian Willemse, who has been sidelined for several months, to the team this weekend, while Ben-Jason Dixon has been released by the Boks and will join up with them on Thursday, although whether he will be available for the weekend is unknown.

Looking at the Ospreys match the Stormers have struggled against them in the URC, despite picking up a comfortable win over them at home in their first season, they drew in Swansea in the second season and were shocked by them in Cape Town last season, so it will be a tricky encounter.

“We drew with them the year before last and they came to Cape Town last year and shocked us on our home turf,” explained Snyman.

“So there is a healthy rivalry developing but that is the thing about the URC and what makes the competition great, you can’t relax against anyone and every team is dangerous.

“You saw last week that all of the games at the start of the URC were close. So the first one away from home will be a tough start. But we are excited to get the season going.

“The boys have worked hard in the pre-season and you can feel in the squad that we are ready to start playing now.”