HL Stormers coach Robbie Fleck has answered critics of his franchise’s decision to recruit New Zealander Paul Treeby by pointing out the specifics of what was required of the back-up to the current trio of centres.
Treeby is a veteran of more than 50 Super Rugby caps with the Highlanders and with three experienced Stormers centres out injured, it should have been obvious why Fleck and Western Province director of rugby Gert Smal opted for Treeby to bolster the midfield stocks. However, the Cape rugby fraternity can be quite eccentric and those who are used to it wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there are people who think that Fleck should have looked at club centres within the union first. That though would be not satisfy what Fleck is looking for.
There is no Cape based centre or for that matter one in the rest of the country who conforms to what Fleck needs to supplement the young centres currently doing so well for the franchise. Short of luring De Wet Barry or Christian Stewart out of retirement or deciding to get his own boots out of the cupboard to make a comeback, there just isn’t anyone in Cape Town who fits the bill for what Fleck is looking for – experience.
“Look we’ve had a fair amount of injuries and the three centres that have been ruled out are all international players in the form of Damian de Allende, Juan de Jongh and Huw Jones,” said Fleck.
“We have good young centres on our books and they are playing well but the only three remaining only have a handful of Super Rugby caps. We are one more injury from having to call up a replacement and it wouldn’t make sense to bring in another inexperienced player given that our flyhalves are also all relatively young.
“Robert du Preez only has 10 Super Rugby caps and Jean-Luc du Plessis is only into his second season. So we need experience. Treeby has picked up vast Super Rugby experience with the Highlanders. We did look in South Africa and we did look within our borders, but considering the type of experience we needed, Treeby was the guy who fitted the bill.”
Fleck said that like former All Black flyhalf Tony Brown did for both the Sharks and the Stormers a decade or so ago, part of Treeby’s role will be to guide the youngsters – Dan du Plessis, Dan Kriel and EW Viljoen – who together boast less than 15 Super Rugby caps between them.
“It’s simple, he fits the type of player we wanted. We needed an experienced guy and he has more than 50 caps. The current guys are all young and he is coming to help them. It will also be good to have someone within our ranks who knows the Kiwi systems and how it works there. He’s the ideal guy to have on a short term contract while our experienced guys are injured.”
Fleck said that the Stormers players welcomed Treeby to their group at training on Tuesday but the newcomer will not be involved in Saturday’s plum Super Rugby showdown with the other unbeaten team in the competition, the Chiefs.
“He won’t be used this week as he has only just arrived and needs time to settle but we will be looking to use him at some stage to see how he goes,” said Fleck.
“In the past the Stormers and WP brought in overseas players to help out, with (former All Black lock) Chris Jack being an example, and it worked. It am sure we will benefit from having Shaun as part of our group.”
