John Dobson describes new signing Ruan Ackermann's role at the Stormers

The South African-born Ackerman, son of former Springbok and current Japan League One coach Johan, has been playing his trade at Gloucester since 2017 and has earned an impressive 172 caps.

Now, Ackermann has returned to South Africa to start a new venture in the Mother City. He will add depth and experience to the Stormers' loose forwards. He joins the likes of Evan Roos, Ben-Jason Dixon, Deon Fourie, Paul de Villiers and  Marcel Theunissen.

"Ruan's core job will be to cover for Evan," the Stormers boss told the press.

"We could end up with Ruan at No.6, BJ at No.7 and Evan at No.8 if you wanted to be really physical with Paul and Marcel coming off the bench.

"There is also the option of Ruan and Evan sharing game time, because we were going to injure Evan if we carried on playing him for 80 minutes and asking him to do what we did.

"I would say Ruan is always in the [matchday] 23. There's also the option of BJ at No.4 while Salmaan [Moerat] is away.

"It just gives us a lot more flexibility than what we had. The key thing was the big physical carrying, and that's what I am thrilled about.

"I don't want to talk about how he has convinced us, but his desperation to play for this team meant a lot. He is making some sacrifices to do so, and I think he is a highly capable player and clearly a high-quality human being and leader."

Dobson went on to reveal why Ackermann was needed and the current state of his loose forward stocks.

"There were three big variables," continued Dobson.

"The first one was Evan being a late call-up to the Springboks. In the last URC campaign, we rested Evan for that Cardiff game [ahead of the play-offs] because we just didn't have a replacement for him.

"If Evan establishes himself nicely in the Springbok team, those guys [Boks] are not playing the first five or six games of the new season. There is also the resting protocol.

"I don't think we had a like-for-like.

"Ruan can also play No.6, No.7 and No.8. Deon [Fourie] is not going to start the season, and Paul de Villiers is still a developing player.

"The other variable at the time was the BJ Dixon arbitration. If that had gone against us, then we would have been thin in the physical department.

"One of the things we saw in the Glasgow quarterfinal was how important those guys are who can do the big carries on the 4G pitch, and at the moment, Evan is pretty much the only guy who can do that.

"And the other piece was Dave Ewers and Willie Engelbrecht not being here anymore, while Keke Morabe had to have another rebreak of that leg after an operation two months ago, as it didn't set properly. That is a helluva serious injury because Keke is a big, mean carrier for us." 

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