Cape Town - It is going to be one of the most salivating contests in the United Rugby Championship Grand Final between the Stormers and the Bulls.
The Stormers loose trio is a thing of beauty.
Awards? They’ve won that (dankie, Evan Roos).
Stats? They’ve owned it (take a bow, Deon Fourie and, yet again, Evan).
Presence? When were they ever absent (the all-moving, roving Hacjivah Dayimani)?
Marcell Coetzee and Elrigh Louw sure have got the whole of South Africa talking, and never mind the Springbok frame, they’ve produced, period.
But how good have the Stormers back row been?
As many questions as there are in that intro, as many need to be answered on Saturday when the two sides meet in the United Rugby Championship Grand Final.
Here’s a look into the Stormers loosies.
Openside flank: Deon Fourie
The fact that this guy is reaching what is supposed to be his career twilight only makes the role that he’s played for the Stormers this season more impressive, and by that I do not mean just as a fetcher.
He’ been playing with the vigour of somebody 10 years his junior, and he has done so consistently.
Nobody else in the URC has won more turnovers than him, so ja, call him the jock of the jackels, but his work rate and overall intensity has been just as good.
Fourie has been next level good for the Stormers, and it’s no wonder that there is the possibility of him becoming the oldest player to make his Springbok debut.
He has said that he’s óld enough’ to know better than to be distracted by being in the Bok mix, he knows that the Bulls will demand all of his attention, and if his track record this season is anything to go by, the Bulls would probably be hoping for less maturity from him in that regard.
Blindside flank: Hacjivah Dayimani
He brings a different dimension to the traditional role, and he makes it look good.
He can slot in at centre, even wing at a push, but as a loosie, he is potent.
Dayimani just brings something different.
He has feet that never fail to remind you of just why he got called into the Springbok Sevens mix, and his ball-carrying, agility and pace make him a constant threat around the loose play.
Dayimani is also a huge threat in the wider channels thanks to his explosive speed. So, with that said, he’s not the kind of loosie you can afford to watch just around the fringes.
No 8: Evan Roos
Meteoric doesn’t cut it. It is absolutely ridiculous how Roos has been performing this entire season. There is probably not much more that can be said about him.
He has roped in four URC awards thus far, and we don’t even have to go into his stats, he has been simply sensational.
Roos is the kind of player that can literally be the difference in a game, and looking at the way he has silenced the Bok back-of-the-scrum incumbent with his performances, I don’t think much more need be said.
@WynonaLouw
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