Khalil Ben Youssef pleased with Luke Baartman debut

Baartman, formerly of Cape Town Spurs and a South African junior international, was cleared to be formally registered by Chiefs two months ago following a SAFA Arbitration hearing wherein Spurs challenged the player's departure as a free agent.

Ben Youssef welcomed the youngster’s introduction, saying the growing depth within the squad is intensifying competition for places – something he is particularly pleased with.

"I think all the players deserve to play – we have a big squad now, there is a lot of competition between the players, and for us as coaches, we are with them in training sessions and see which players are more ready for the game," said Ben Youssef.

"Also we prepared the plan of the game, we know when we have to make substitutions in the right moments, Baartman came in around 80 minutes and played very well in the last 10 minutes, creating a lot of opportunities for us.

"But we have to continue to work, the most important thing is the team and not the [individual] players."

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One of the newly developing partnerships in midfield has seen new arrival Lebohang Maboe and Lehlogonolo Matlou showing promising chemistry, with Ben Youssef denying they are currently experimenting.

"Aiden McCarthy was out because he got injured and then if the player who takes his position is performing well, what do we have to do? We have a big squad, we have to manage the load," he defended.

"If you are not with us in training then you won't know why we make certain substitutions – if you ask me, we can answer, but to say it's experimental – we are not experimenting.

"We are with the team for more than one season and we know all the players, we are working with the team and we know which team to select, and we're working together as a technical staff and board, we know what we are doing and we are not here to experiment."