Wandisile Simelane can’t wait to showcase his dynamism and hard work behind the scenes in his first start for the DHL Stormers against Edinburgh on Saturday.

Simelane partners Dan du Plessis in midfield in the round 12 Vodacom URC clash at Cape Town Stadium, after making his debut in the competition in a win over the Sharks last month.

The 25-year-old has settled in well since joining the Stormers, and has scored several tries in recent friendlies, including against the Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens.

Speaking in a Stormers conference on Friday, Simelane acknowledged his training with assistant coaches Dawie Snyman and Norman Laker while feeling that he is ready to play an influential role.

“I’m very excited [to start on Saturday], every time I got to play in Cape Town against the Stormers it was a massive occasion,” he told reporters.

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“Norman, Dawie and Coach Dobbo have been hard on me to get my pace up to standard and my structures in place, and I feel very confident that I understand the system now. It’s up to me to go out there and just play and enjoy my rugby.

“Dan is a senior player in the team, which helps us; there’s a lot of guys in the team who are very exciting, including myself, who possibly maybe get ahead of ourselves but he is very calm and level headed and that helps me, to say the least.

“Everyone knows how exciting the Stormers want to play, and for me the sooner I find my feet the sooner I’ll be most influential in this attack, and the better it will be for the team.

“So [I tell myself] ‘calm down, work hard’ and figure out where I fit into this lovely puzzle and I believe we’ll have a good season.”

The Stormers will be looking to extend their unbeaten record at home this season when they face Edinburgh, as well as take a major step towards reviving their URC playoffs prospects.

“We know how important this game is for us, we want to have a very good home stretch,” Simelane added. “And for me personally, it’s to go out there and have fun and put no pressure on myself… put in a good performance for the team and hopefully we get a win.”

Photo: @THESTORMERS/Twitter

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