Assistant coach Labeeb Levy said Western Province’s Currie Cup campaign will provide the DHL Stormers brains trust with a “creative” outlet to trial youngsters and tactics.
The world’s oldest domestic rugby competition kicks off this week, with Province’s first fixture a north-south clash against the Vodacom Bulls at Cape Town Stadium on Sunday.
The Currie Cup has been given a facelift for the 2024 season, and will be staged over one-and-a-half rounds, followed by two semi-finals and the grand finale in September.
The 2024-25 Vodacom URC is set to kick off on 20 September, with the Stormers to host the Bulls in round 1.
Speaking in a WP conference on Tuesday, Levy highlighted the opportunity for the Stormers to grow squad depth while addressing the challenges of player welfare and competing on multiple fronts.
“Various teams are using the Currie Cup for different reasons. The bigger unions especially are using it for the bigger picture like competing in Europe and the URC, and we’ll look to do something similar,” he told reporters.
“We want to see a nice blend of the young players coming through, like the U21s, competing with the big boys and playing in big stadiums in high pressure environments.
“Also similar to last year, we’re definitely looking to give opportunities to club players as well as seeing who from last season played club rugby and Currie Cup, and build on that.
“We have already discussed in our meetings that the Currie Cup final is the same time as the URC [is scheduled to start]. Management, coaches, everyone has to be creative.”
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“We’re living in interesting times, and the Currie Cup almost didn’t take place,” Levy added. “We’re looking to blood players and build depth for Europe and the URC, and Currie Cup players [at WP] will definitely have to step up when Stormers players are called to the Springboks.
“We’re using the Currie Cup with the end goal and bigger picture in mind, which is URC. But no disrespect to the Currie Cup – the team and the players are very excited.
“We believe our system and the path we’ve chosen suits us because we’re using the Currie Cup for young players and club players, but also the competition to test training methods.”
Levy, the head performance analyst and skills coach at the Stormers, stepped into the limelight as a key figure in the coaches box during the 2023 Currie Cup. He assumed charge of WP during significant phases of last season while John Dobson focused on the Stormers’ engagements in the URC and Champions Cup.
On potentially fulfilling an interim role again, Levy said, “Dobbo is still director of rugby but like players who need time off, the coaches have had a long stretch so part of the plan is to give other coaches exposure and experience as well.
“But Dobbo is still involved, as are all the other coaches.”
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