Springbok flanker Paul de Villiers will lead the Stormers for a second weekend in a row, this time making his captaincy debut in the United Rugby Championship (URC) against Scarlets on Saturday afternoon at DHL Stadium (4pm kick-off).
Having taken over the armband from injured captain Ruhan Nel after the regular skipper picked up a calf injury ahead of this past weekend’s 49-12 Champions Cup victory over Bristol Bears, De Villiers is set to bring that momentum to the URC.
While that Bristol clash was his debut as senior captain, De Villiers has previously led the Junior Springboks and is no newcomer to leadership. This season, he has also taken on a more senior role for the Cape side and is one of the forwards who interacts with the referee when Nel is in the backline and far away from the action.
With Nel, Bok skipper Siya Kolisi, and Damian Willemse on the sidelines, the fetcher will depend on the likes of eighthman Hacjivah Dayimani, flanker Evan Roos, flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, winger Seabelo Senatla and fullback Warrick Gelant to be the senior voices for advice when it is needed.
De Villiers focused on his own performance
Ahead of the URC restart, De Villiers says he doesn’t want the captaincy to influence how he plays. He, of course, harbours hopes of earning more opportunities with the Springboks ahead of the November Tests in the Northern Hemisphere, so maintaining his rich form at the breakdown and with the ball in hand, remains at the top of his priority list.
“I will try to make this captaincy role not influence my own game,” De Villiers said.
“That is important to me. I just want to be comfortable in that position with the group and team and gel with them. I feel we did pretty well collectively last weekend, especially with our discipline and the way we reacted to messages from the coaching staff at half-time.
“Hopefully on Saturday we can do that from the first whistle and respond to the plans and what we want to do. I am quite excited to see how that plays out. We are so spoiled with leaders around me and that makes the job easier, especially last weekend against Bristol.”
According to De Villiers, he is excited to face Scarlets, who could bring a different challenge in the URC.
The Stormers are unbeaten at home after two games and will look to dominate this clash to carry that winning momentum into their final home encounter against Ulster next weekend, ahead of the November break.