Salmaan Moerat on Stormers captaincy: ‘A massive honour’

New Stormers captain Salmaan Moerat is set to fill the big shoes left by Springbok prop Steven Kitshoff, who left the union for Ulster at the end of the past United Rugby Championship (URC) season.

Moerat has captained the Stormers on multiple occasions before, including during their first season in the competition when he took the reins over at the start of the campaign, while he also captained them as recently as December last year when he led them against the Dragons in Gqberha.

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A serious knee injury soon after that game then ruled him out of the rest of the URC season, which also shattered his Bok World Cup aspirations, but he now has a new challenge which he will take up when the season kicks off in late October.

Huge responsibility

“I have to give thanks to Dobbo (Stormers coach John Dobson) and his coaching staff for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. With it comes a huge responsibility and it is always a massive honour and privilege to lead this team,” said Moerat.

“Some fantastic leaders have come before me, none other than Kitsie (Kitshoff). I am not going to try and change much, obviously Kitsie has done some great work here and instilled some great values. So along with that I would like to add my bit.

“What Kitsie did really well is he wasn’t a man of many words but led by example. That’s something I have tried to mould my game around and learnt from him. So massive respect to him for doing that and setting that example and I will try my utmost best to add to that.

“But as I said I am not going to try change much. This is a fairly experienced group of players at the end of the day and they all know their job. So if I can play well on a Saturday that’s half my job done as captain.”

Tough task

Moerat is going to have a tough task on his hands to make sure that the Stormers keep up the superb standards that they have set by winning the inaugural edition of the URC and then hosting a second consecutive final which they lost to Munster back in May.

“Our mission is not going to change much. Our ultimate goal is to keep Cape Town smiling and I think in that respect we are succeeding. We would like to connect with the communities a bit more, which we will try to do,” said Moerat.

“But ultimately our main goal is to play top class rugby and keep the fans happy by doing well in the competition.”

‘Generational captain’

Dobson is thrilled to have Moerat take over as captain of the side and believes that he is set to become a Stormers legend over the coming years.

“We have seen so much growth in him. I think he is going to be a generational captain of the Stormers. In a number of years’ time we are going to reflect on one of the great Stormers captains,” said Dobson.

“He understands the club, he understands the project, he understands what we are trying to do and he has the complete respect of his teammates as a person, player and leader. So we are absolutely thrilled to have him back as our captain for the long term. It’s really exciting.”