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Stormers recruit free agent Dave Ewers following his Ulster release

Ex-Ulster back row Dave Ewers is off to Cape Town (Photo by Matt Impey/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Dave Ewers is staying in the United Rugby Championship for 2024/25 after signing a short-term deal with the Stormers following his June release by Ulster. The 33-year-old blindside flanker, who was a member of the Exeter Chiefs side that won the Champions Cup/Premiership double in 2020, can also operate at No8. 

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He made over 200 appearances for the Chiefs before spending last season in Belfast, where he played 16 times before becoming one of nine players to leave the cash-strapped province at the end of the season. 

Ewers was living in Exeter in recent months while he looked for another club. His signing will raise a few eyebrows in Cape Town as they released Junior Pokomela in June only to now replace him with a player six years older. Stormers No8 Evan Roos also revealed on this week’s RugbyPass TV Boks Office show that he faces a six-month lay-off due to his need to have a shoulder operation. 

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    Director of rugby John Dobson explained on the club’s website that Ewers will bring plenty of physicality and considerable experience to the side this season. Dave fits the profile of what we were looking for in the short-term, given we are missing some key loose forwards due to injury. 

    “He has proven himself as a top player with the experience of what it takes to mix it with the best in Europe, so we are looking forward to seeing the impact he will have within our system,” he said. 

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    Ewers, who is approaching the veteran stage of his career, admitted that he is looking forward to continuing his career with the Stormers and returning to the southern hemisphere. “I am originally from Zimbabwe, so to be back down south is very exciting and I am ready to get stuck in for the DHL Stormers. There are some incredible players in this squad, and hopefully, I can add something extra as we gear up for an exciting season,” he said. 

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    J
    JW 1 hour ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    It is now 22 years since Michael Lewis published his groundbreaking treatise on winning against the odds

    I’ve never bothered looking at it, though I have seen a move with Clint as a scout/producer. I’ve always just figured it was basic stuff for the age of statistics, is that right?

    Following the Moneyball credo, the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available

    This is actually a great example of what I’m thinking of. This concept has abosolutely nothing to do with Moneyball, it is simple being able to realise how skillsets tie together and which ones are really revelant.


    It sounds to me now like “moneyball” was just a necessity, it was like scienctest needing to come up with some random experiment to make all the other world scholars believe that Earth was round. The American sporting scene is very unique, I can totally imagine one of it’s problems is rich old owners not wanting to move with the times and understand how the game has changed. Some sort of mesiah was needed to convert the faithful.


    While I’m at this point in the article I have to say, now the NRL is a sport were one would stand up and pay attention to the moneyball phenom. Like baseball, it’s a sport of hundreds of identical repetitions, and very easy to data point out.

    the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available and look to get ahead of an unfair game in the areas it has always been strong: predictive intelligence and rugby ‘smarts’

    Actually while I’m still here, Opta Expected Points analysis is the one new tool I have found interesting in the age of data. Seen how the random plays out as either likely, or unlikely, in the data’s (and algorithms) has actually married very closely to how I saw a lot of contests pan out.


    Engaging return article Nick. I wonder, how much of money ball is about strategy as apposed to picks, those young fella’s got ahead originally because they were picking players that played their way right? Often all you here about is in regards to players, quick phase ruck ball, one out or straight up, would be were I’d imagine the best gains are going to be for a data driven leap using an AI model of how to structure your phases. Then moving to tactically for each opposition.

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