Ruhan Nel to captain Stormers in URC opener against Leinster

The Cape side are missing several Springboks and senior players through injury, including regular leaders Salmaan Moerat and Deon Fourie. 

Dobson says Nel, who has been a consistent performer and senior voice in the squad, was the natural choice to lead.

"Yeah, I think captaincy wise I think the unavailability of Salmaan and Deon has had an impact on that and obviously the older narrative around Kitshoff's [Steven] retirement, obviously we lost a bit of leadership,” Dobson said.

“So, that left Ruhan, he was really good against the Sharks and we really enjoyed him as a leader and I think he's always led our defense, that's also a focus area for us this season and that worked for us."

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Three players are in line to make their Stormers debuts from the bench. 

Nineteen-year-old prop Olly Reid, fresh out of Paul Roos last season, is joined by returning loose forward Ruan Ackermann, who previously played for Gloucester, and journeyman flyhalf Clinton Swart. 

Dobson has more these acquisitions.

"Ruan Ackermann we've been super keen on, it's really been one of our better pieces of business, what he did, the commitment he shown to the Stormers by basically moving to Cape Town, saying I want to play for you has been remarkable,” the coach added. 

“He's a really class player, Clinton Swart we enjoyed him but he's with just a bit of injuries, unavailability of Sacha [Feirnberg-Mngomezulu] and Damian [Willemse], Sacha will be our first choice 10, probably Damian and Jean-Luc du Plessis, which means we had only one guy who could really cover 10. 

“So, that's when we got Clinton on loan from the Pumas and then the wonderfully named, exciting,  Olly Reid,  Oli Kebble will probably be there but he's got a hamstring tweak. We played Olly Reid in the Currie Cup towards the last three or four games and then he played against the Sharks and he's just exceptional."