Champions Cup winner Dave Ewers will join the DHL Stormers to alleviate their injury headache in the back row and mentor up-and-comers Paul de Villiers and Divan Fuller.
The DHL Stormers on Thursday announced that Ewers will join the team on a short-term contract ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Ewers, who was born in Zimbabwe, finished his schooling in England and enjoyed a high successful career at Exeter Chiefs, where he made over 250 appearances and won a Champions Cup and Premiership double in 2020.
The 33-year-old spent the 2023-24 season in the Vodacom URC with Ulster, where he was joined by Steven Kitshoff in the pack.
The Stormers are expecting to be without Deon Fourie, Evan Roos and BJ Dixon for the first part of their URC campaign, while Hacjivah Dayimani has departed for France.
“Through Kitsie, we heard that he was available,” Stormers assistant coach Dawie Snyman said. “They were both at Ulster together.
“It came about because of our injuries. Deon Fourie will only be ready after the URC tour. Evan Roos has gone for an operation and BJ Dixon is with the Springboks. So we needed depth.”
Part of Ewers’ responsibilities will be to use his experience to aid the growth of up-and-coming loose forwards Fuller and De Villiers.
The dynamic duo have teamed up impressively for Western Province in the Currie Cup and could get the opportunity to take the next step in their careers when the URC gets underway in September.
“We are very excited about those two,” Snyman said. “It’s great that they have the opportunity to play senior rugby now. They are getting better with every game.
“They are feeding off each other a little bit, both of them are strong over the ball. It’s healthy for us that they are coming through and are getting a lot of exposure.
“We’ve had previous experiences with guys like Jamie Roberts coming over here. Bringing over senior players who played on that side of the world to help the youngsters here.
“We will definitely be getting Dave to help us in that regard.”
Next up for WP is a clash with the defending champions Cheetahs in Cape Town on Saturday.
“We are definitely giving ourselves a chance to win. We have prepared really well,” Snyman said.
“The Cheetahs are a really good side, but they have to come down to Cape Town. Playing at 7pm at our stadium is a bit different to playing in the afternoon in Bloemfontein. We have plans around that.
“We’ve developed well as a group and a team over the past two or three weeks, We have some nice continuity. So we will definitely be going for this one.”
Photo: Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
