Sulieman Hartzenberg is already a teenage star in the Stormers backline, and now there could be another new Junior Springbok kid on the block in the shape of Imad Khan.
The Bishops, UCT and SA Under-20 scrumhalf was included on the bench on Friday for Sunday’s United Rugby Championship encounter against Glasgow Warriors (5pm SA time kick-off), with Hartzenberg at right wing.
The two combined superbly for the Junior Boks last year under the captaincy of fellow Stormers playmaker Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to win the Summer Series tournament in Italy.
Hartzenberg and Feinberg-Mngomezulu – who were also schooled at Bishops – have made great strides in their short senior careers, and Stormers coach John Dobson predicts that Khan will follow suit.
“They are Bishops boys, so obviously they deserve to be fast-tracked and advanced!” Dobson, himself a Bishops old boy, joked from Glasgow yesterday.
“Suleiman is already proving himself for us. We actually thought because centre is a bit tough, we wanted to give him a bit more space (at wing). We thought without Ruhan (Nel), Dan (du Plessis) at 13 is probably a really good defensive 13 where Glasgow will challenge us.
“We always wanted Suleiman’s first season to be based on the wing pretty much, but to the injuries, we’ve had to move him in earlier (to centre).
“To my mind, Imad Khan is going to be a star of South African rugby. I know I say this quite often, but to me, I watched him play at school, change games for UCT in the Varsity Cup … I don’t think I’ve seen a scrumhalf with his ability to read a game – especially his ability to change a game – for a long time.
“We’ve got a chance to look at him. It is a bit into the deep end, but I want to get these guys experience. Herschel (Jantjies) has a reasonably long-term (rib muscle) injury (three to four weeks), Godlen (Masimla) hasn’t got a long-term arrangement with us, so Imad’s going to have to come through at some stage.
“I just thought that this is a good opportunity to get him on a tour and make him feel a sense of belonging, as he has been part of a few set-ups this season.”
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Dobson made one change and a few positional switches to the starting line-up from the 40-8 victory over the Lions last weekend, with Clayton Blommetjies coming in at fullback.
That sees Bok star Damian Willemse moving back to inside centre, which results in Dan du Plessis at No 13 and Hartzenberg at No 14.
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Even though captain Steven Kitshoff has a cold, Dobson is confident that the loosehead prop will be ready to play tomorrow.
“Kitsie has a bit of a cold, so we rather keep him wrapped up. He is 100% playing. He’s not running a temperature, and the doctor just felt it’s better that he rests a bit,” the coach said.
Stormers team: 15 Clayton Blommetjies 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg 13 Dan du Plessis 12 Damian Willemse 11 Leolin Zas 10 Manie Libbok 9 Paul de Wet 8 Hacjivah Dayimani 7 Willie Engelbrecht 6 Deon Fourie 5 Marvin Orie 4 Ben-Jason Dixon 3 Neethling Fouche 2 Joseph Dweba 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Bench: 16 JJ Kotze 17 Brok Harris 18 Sazi Sandi 19 Connor Evans 20 Junior Pokomela 21 Marcel Theunissen 22 Imad Khan 23 Angelo Davids.
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