The Stormers are continuing to put in the hours on the field at the Western Province Rugby High Performance Centre ahead of next year's Super 14. The Cape side are up against the Sharks in the opening round on the 14th of February.
Coach Rassie Erasmus says he's been pleasantly surprised by his team's commitment over the last week and a bit since they came together at the beginning of this month. It's Erasmus' second season in charge of the Stormers and at the same time last year he was just getting to ! know his players and his coaching staff. He says things are a whole lot better this time around.
"I think we're on track, I think we're a little bit ahead of where we were this time last year. I've got the Boks back here and we're managing them individually because there are a few guys who've really played a lot of rugby..." Erasmus said.
Erasmus says training has been intense over the past week and will continue like this for the next few weeks before they take a short break over Christmas. He admits there are players who are carrying some niggles and recovering from minor operations but he didn't want to elaborate too much on exactly who those players are.
Gcobani Bobo and Peter Grant both had lengthy spells along the sidelines with shoulder injuries and it's possible they had follow up operations.
Erasmus says he's been impressed with the enthusiasm of the newcommers to the squad who've wasted no time in getting acquainted with! the rest of their teammates. One of the new signings, Hilton ! Lobberts , is still spending quite a lot of time in the gym to fully recover from his injury.
The match against the Sharks will be played at Newlands and kicks off at 5pm.
