VIDEO: 'Vultures' circling after Stormers' success
Even before the Stormers’ rise to the top of the South African conference, after two wins and a draw in the last three weeks, the European vultures were already circling.
Those agents, scouting for talent, will become even more fervent in their drive to lure quality players away from South Africa in the wake of the Stormers’ recent success.
They top the SA conference with 18 points from eight matches – leading the Sharks (16 from eight), Bulls (16 from eight) and Lions (12 from eight) in the race for the automatic qualifying spot for the 2022/23 European Cup.
Stormers coach John Dobson, speaking after his team’s 20-10 win over the Springbok-laden Sharks in Cape Town at the weekend, said the big offers coming from Europe remains a massive challenge.
Dobson admitted that playing in and against teams in Europe makes South Africa the perfect ‘shop window’ of talent for the cash-flush clubs in the Northern Hemisphere.
“You have already read about [the] massive offers for Warrick [Gelant],” the coach said about reports that French giants Racing 92 offered him a salary in the region of €450,000 (more than ZAR7-million) per season.
He added that there are no issues with Gelant, but it will be “purely financial” if he does take up the offer.
Dobson also touched on the other talent in his team, Damian Willemse – who has been getting plenty of minutes and attracting attention from teams outside South Africa.
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“It is not about game time or opportunity,” the coach said, adding: “It is going to be a struggle to compete [financially].
“The Cheetahs, after their first year in the Pro14 [URC’s predecessor], lost 13 players.
“Every day there are offers for our players.
“It is just how it is. It is the world we live in. It is tough.”
The Stormers this week travel to Johannesburg for another South African derby, against the Lions.
Captain Steven Kitshoff said they will not be underestimating the struggling Ellis Park outfit.
“We definitely need to go back and figure out the small mistakes we made,” Kitshoff said about their focus for this week.
“I can’t fault the effort and the attitude and willingness, if there was a linebreak or a kick-chase we kept the pressure on.
“This team is willing to work for each other like demons,” the skipper added.
Dobson echoed Kitshoff’s sentiment that they could have made better use of their opportunities, but added that otherwise the team had played according to the gameplan and got good reward for it.
“I thought we squandered quite a bit, we played much better than last week but we must have left about four or five tries out there,” the coach said.
“We wanted to play with more rhythm and attack quite directly, which I thought we did well in the second half, and then of course to kick in behind.”
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