Stormers' selection headache: John Dobson's embarrassment of riches

The Cape Town franchise has some of world rugby's most prodigious attackers on its books, but now the challenge is fitting them all on the teamsheet come Saturday. 

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is currently in pole position at flyhalf, the elusive Damian Willemse can parachute in anywhere from 10 to 15, the dangerously creative Warrick Gelant is always a threat and Manie Libbok - currently on a hiatus of sorts in Japan - will undoubtedly return to the Stormers soon enough.

This, combined with the emergence of Junior Springboks Yaqeen Ahmed and Markus Muller - who have both been called up to the senior Bok squad for the business end of the Nations Championship - leaves Dobson with problems. Good problems.

Ahmed started at flyhalf for the Stormers in Saturday's 33-7 rout of Ulster. The 20-year-old produced a statement performance, making three line breaks, beating six defenders, scoring a try and executing a pinpoint cross-kick for his captain Ruhan Nel to score in the corner.

"I think I said it before; we talked in these rooms about how we were going to fit an on-form Warrick, Manie, Sacha, and we never really had Damian in the same team, and we never really had the problem, so I hope that becomes a problem now," said Dobson.

"Sacha is adamant on playing No.10, and I am entirely convinced Yaqeen is a No.10, so it is a challenge.

"If we say Yaqeen's growth is about game management and driving a game, then he has to play at No.10. However, just looking at the brutality of the fixture list and the international demands, it's not going to be a problem.

"He has got maturity, but he is going to need a lot more rugby to learn the real driving of the game. He is making massive progress, and he is one for the future.

"Yaqeen is not the finished product by any stretch of the imagination. That will come by just playing for us, but what a talent and cool head - special."

But Dobson isn't just throwing his young talent to the wolves - he pairs them up with experience. On Saturday, veteran scrumhalf Cobus Reinach fed Ahmed, while talisman Nel was outside Muller at 13 to shore up the midfield.

Dobson also heaped praise on 19-year-old Muller, who has gone from strength to strength since becoming the youngest Stormers player ever to debut for the franchise back in April. In fact, the Paarl Gimnasium graduate has the chance to break Francois Steyn's long-standing record as the youngest ever Springbok on tour this month.

"I thought Markus Muller was absolutely outstanding today," continued Dobson.

"He was phenomenal in everything he did. It's not by accident that we've got Cobus Reinach at 9 and Ruan Nel at 13 because in between are two of the guys who were writing matric last year."

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