Western Province to compete as Stormers XXIII in historic Currie Cup shift

By SABC Sport
27th June 2026

Western Province will compete under the Stormers brand name in this year's Carling Currie Cup.

Following a consolidation that has brought all Stormers Rugby professional teams under one banner, the DHL Stormers XXIII will feature in the competition for the first time.

Their opening fixture in the tournament will be against the Suzuki Griquas at DHL Stadium on Friday, 17 July, which is also the first day of this year's Currie Cup.

"We took the decision to align all of our teams under one brand in the same way all professional clubs around the world have, and the moment has come for the DHL Stormers XXIII to start a new chapter while building on the unrivalled success we have had in the past," said Stormers Rugby Chief Commercial Officer Leontine De Sutter.

Director of Rugby John Dobson said that this competition will be an opportunity to further develop depth and encourage competition for places in the Stormers squad for next season.

"We have so much exciting talent within our system and the DHL Stormers XXIII gives them a platform to compete for a place in our squad for the Vodacom URC and Investec Champions Cup next season.

"We will have a group of senior players unavailable for this tournament as they follow a pre-season programme aimed at ensuring that we are ready to hit the ground running when the new international season kicks off at the end of September.

"We will see the next wave of talent coming through the system look to put their names forward. The likes of Jonathan Roche, Keke Morabe, JC Mars, Divan Fuller and Connor Evans will be keen to show what they can do, along with some seasoned experience in the form of Oli Kebble, Ruan Ackermann and Stefan Ungerer," he said.

High Performance Manager Hanyani Shimange will continue to oversee the entire programme, as he did for the team's U23 campaign.

Former Stormers Performance Coach and UCT Head Coach Tom Dawson-Squibb will take the role of Head Coach, and will be assisted by Helmut Lehmann, Dewaldt Duvenage, Sentle Lehoko and Pine Pienaar.