Dave Rennie on Stormers naming flyhalf prodigy to debut against All Blacks

Yaqeen Ahmed has been named to make his senior Stormers debut against none other than the All Blacks in this weekend’s Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry opener, and New Zealand coach Dave Rennie says the youngster has been set up well for success.

Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson showed plenty of faith in his young prodigy by throwing him in the deep end against the world No.2 international side, rewarding the form that saw Ahmed lead South Africa to their second consecutive World U20 title last month.

The 20-year-old has been picked at No.10 alongside fellow recent U20 graduate Imad Khan at halfback, while 35-year-old captain Ruhan Nel will provide plenty of experience in the centre channel, with 13-cap Springbok Warrick Gelant at fullback.

Rennie said he expects the youngster to bring energy and come out with a point to prove while lining up against a 35-year-old Beauden Barrett with 144 Test caps.

“Both of their halves are excellent, aren’t they? I wouldn’t say I’ve watched an enormous amount, but when you look at the quality of the 20s program recently, Kevin Foote running that, he’s done a fantastic job,” Rennie said when asked about Ahmed’s selection.

“It’s a great opportunity for them. They’ve got a couple of young kids that will be excited, they’ve got some good experience around them, and I’d imagine that they’ll want to play and show their hand. So we’ve got to do our best to deny them time and space.”

Fixture

Rugby Union Hybrid Friendlies

Stormers

10:00

7 Aug 26

New Zealand

All Stats and Data

With a 26-man Springbok squad in Buenos Aires for a showdown against Los Pumas, the Stormers have been denied access to many of their superstars, but the likes of Evan Roos and André-Hugo Venter, who both picked up caps for South Africa in July, have been named to start.

“It’s still a pretty strong Stormers side, we think. There’s no shortage of talent and depth in this country,” Rennie added.

“The old days of playing a French Barbarians or a South African XV to soften you up heading into a Test series have probably changed. But we’ve got a massive amount of respect for South African rugby. We’re well aware of the quality of the side that we’ll play, and we’ll give them that respect.”

The Kiwi coach explained that with such a quick-fire game schedule, including a midweek game against the Sharks next week, he and his assistants have taken a bare-bones approach to analysing their opponents.

“We’ve had a massive amount of focus on us, on building our game,” Rennie explained. “We’ve had lots of new guys come in.

“We’ve had a decent look at all three sides, and because of the short turnaround between games, we’ve looked for common ground, so areas that we expect the Stormers, the Sharks and the Bulls to try and stress us or opportunities that will be there. And then we’ll make little tweaks based on who we’re playing, because there’s just not the same amount of time to review, preview, and scout teams in four-day windows and try to get a couple of trainings in.

“So I’m not going to talk a lot, individually, about what we think the Stormers will bring. But we know they kick a lot, they really apply pressure through that. There’s a real point of difference they’ve got: absolutely lightning wheels all over the park. So, we’re going to have to deal with that, but it does create opportunities for us; a bit of ball will be kicked to us, so if we can deal with that, then we’ll get some opportunities. Hopefully the weather plays its part.”