Stormers snap up young talent with eye on the future

NEWS: The Stormers are busy laying foundations with some of the country’s young talent.

A strong group of junior players have committed their futures to the Cape Town franchise.

School rugby season is in full swing, with quality rugby being played across the Western Cape every weekend and several highly promising players are poised to make the transition to the professional game next year.

The Stormers have already secured the services of several of these star players for 2026 and beyond.

The Paarl Gimnasium duo of centre Markus Muller and loose forward Quintin Potgieter, Rondebosch Boys loose forward Alutha Wesi, centre Randall-John Davids and prop Matt van der Merwe have all agreed to join the Stormers next year.

The list of players also includes wing Jordan Steenkamp, hooker Altus Rabe and loose forward Gert Kemp from Paul Roos, Wynberg Boys flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed, Boland Landbou scrumhalf Jayden Brits and Grey College lock AJ Meyer.

Director of Rugby John Dobson said that the contracting model is to look at local talent from the region first as a way to keep strengthening the pathway system which has seen Western Province Under-21 win two consecutive national titles, with many of those players going on to feature for the Stormers as well.

“This speaks to our aim as an organisation of harnessing the talent we have on our doorstep and strengthening the connection with our fans by contracting players from their communities to take our team forward,” said Dobson.

“Of course, we still keep an eye on the most promising players from around the country and will make strategic acquisitions from outside the region if we feel they will make a big difference.”

Dobson said that this strong intake of local talent is extremely encouraging as the Stormers look to build significant depth by drawing on the best that the schools in the Western Cape have to offer.

“We have seen a few big success stories in recent years, with the likes of Damian Willemse, Salmaan Moerat, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Schickerling and Suleiman Hartzenberg all coming through our system to become household names.

“We expect the same to happen with many of these players who will join our environment next year and we are not done here, with a few more significant names set to be added to this list in the near future,” he said.