VIDEO: The unsung hero filling Kitshoff's boots
SPOTLIGHT: Despite going down to the Sharks this past weekend, one aspect of the Stormers’ game that could be deemed as a silver lining was their scrum.
When the news broke back in mid-September that Steven Kitshoff suffered a neck injury playing in a Currie Cup clash against Griquas, there were valid concerns that the Cape franchise could be in trouble in the loosehead department.
At the point in time Ali Vermaak was injured alongside Steven Kitshoff and Lizo Gqoboka, but the Stormers stalwart made his return against the Sharks this past weekend and showed exactly why he’s still highly-rated by his coaches.
Speaking at an online press conference on Monday, Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani opened up on the scrum calls in the clash against the Sharks, and had huge praise for Vermaak who put on a great personal performance in his return match.
“I wouldn’t want to discuss the calls much but all I’ll say in a normal scrum the tighthead side doesn’t usually go forward as fast as the loosehead,” Hlungwani said.
“Ali [Allister Vermaak] was quite powerful on the left, and I think the tighthead side moved forward but not at the same pace [as the loosehead side].
“So from a coaches point of view, we’re quite happy with that picture, we’re quite happy with how Ali Vermaak performed coming back.
“He hasn’t played in a really long time and we thought he looked in good shape, played against two Springboks, we thought he operated well.
“We thought Joseph [Dweba] was good right in the middle and Neethling [Fouché] as well.
“The guys really performed well and the power they got from the back-five.”
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Hlungwani had more praise for Vermaak who’s return couldn’t come at a better time, with fellow loosehead prop Sti Sithole also sidelined with injury alongside Kitshoff and Gqoboka – relieving some pressure from 39-year-old veteran Brok Harris who filled the gap up until recently.
“Ali is highly experienced, you know he started playing for [Western] Province when I was still a player,” Hlungwani told the media.
“That’s why I call him madala [old man], he’s highly experienced, played in a lot of games, won Currie Cups, played Super Rugby, so a very experienced player.
“So having a guy like that in your squad is quite helpful in terms of creating that competition at training.
“In terms of speeding up, learning off the younger looseheads like Leon Lyons, [Sandi] Sazi who scrums against him a lot, Vernon Matongo who’s also a loosehead and also to put pressure on guys like Neethling [Fouché] if he does scrum against him.
“So a very good individual to have in our system, and I think very underrated, considering he’s played quite a lot of games against proper tightheads and he’s dominated most of the time.
“We’re quite happy with the condition that he’s come back in, and we have to give credit to our rehab staff.” Hlungwani added.
