Cape Storm brewing for Sarries
Saracens may not be playing against Biarritz in Cape Town, but the squad will still travel down to the Mother City in January 2012 to conduct a training camp with their ‘B’ team, the Storm, scheduled to play against the Maties Varsity Cup side.
The English Premiership champions had planned to play their Heineken Cup home game against the French Top 14 side on January 15 in Cape Town but a disagreement with the Western Province Rugby Union over which stadium the match would be held at which developed into something of a political football caused them to revise that plan and hold the game in London instead.
However, as the flights had already been booked for the trip Saracens, who currently top their Heineken Cup pool, decided to take the opportunity to spend some time training in the fair Cape.
Saracens Media Manager Mike Hartwell confirmed to this website that the squad will fly to Cape Town on January 8 following their home Premiership fixture against Bath and will return on Saturday, January 14 ahead of the clash with Biarritz which will take place the following day.
They will bring their full squad down for the week and those players who will not feature in the matchday squad for the game against Biarritz will play for the Storm against three-times Varsity Cup champions Stellenbosch University (known as the Maties).
Maties coach Chean Roux told this website that the clash would be an ideal opportunity for him to test his squad against quality opposition as he plots to take back the Varsity Cup crown from local rivals the University of Cape Town who became the first side other than Maties to win the title this year.
“They are all senior contracted players at Saracens so it is definitely not a bad side, and they also have a ‘B’ league that they play in every Monday night against the likes of Bath, Leicester and Gloucester so it is a very good side,” he explained.
Roux recently spent a week in London and watched the Storm play a few times, so he is well aware of what they are capable of.
He said: “If anyone gets injured then they use the Storm games as comeback games for the senior players. I saw Charlie Hodgson play half a game for them and Justin Melck played a full game for them when I was over there.
“There are quite a few quality players, and even if they sit on the bench for Saracens then they will turn out on a Monday for the Storm just to make sure they get enough game time,” added the Maties coach.
Maties have recently finished their pre-season training and will only get together again a few days before the match against the Storm which will be held at the new Stellenbosch sports academy at Paul Roos Gymnasium on January 11, 2012.
Roux is expecting a tough examination which he believes will be ideal preparation for his side who will be desperate to re-establish their position at the top of the Varsity Cup pile next year.
“They are slap bang in the middle of their season so their structures are all in place. For us we have only got four training session before we play them so for me it is not about the scoreboard, there are certain other aspects that we would rather concentrate on,” he said.
“It is not about the winning for us because you can’t have a break of four weeks after pre-season and then expect to beat a quality side, even though it is the B-side they are still professionals and they train a full day five times a week, so it is going to be good I think.”
The Maties boss is happy with his squad, who have been training together since early October ahead of the 2012 Varsity Cup, and is excited about seeing how they react to the test that will be posed by the Storm and the SA Under-20 side who they will play in their final warm-up match.
“It will be great for our preparations because we are playing the Storm on the 11th and then we play the SA Under-20s on January 27. Our first Varsity Cup game is on February 6, so the period building up to that game will be good.
“We have got a really good squad I think it will be just a question of who to pick and in which position. Working with amateurs and this is silly season in South Africa you never know what could happen with people moving around and getting injured but I am 99% sure what my squad will look like,” he added.
As none of the players in the matchday squad for the match against Biarritz will feature for the Storm, Maties will have to provide a few players to sit on the bench for the English outfit, something which Roux says will be particularly valuable for his team in their Varsity Cup preparations.
He said: “It went through my mind the other day that if they need players then maybe I should give them some of my players who I know will be starting for us so that they can experience a different side of rugby, a different team, a different culture and learn from the experience and use it to benefit us.
“I think it could work out very well and from my side I can use some of the fringe players to see what my depth is like,” Roux pointed out.
By Michael de Vries
