Springbok hooker Joseph Dweba was in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons last year when his line-out throwing was not up to standard and eventually found himself relegated to South Africa ‘A’ squad for the November tour.
Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani said that they have been hard at work helping Dweba restore his confidence.
“We haven’t changed our system at all to accommodate Joseph,” said Hlungwani.
“We recruited him on the basis that we knew his capabilities, and having watched him play for the Cheetahs, we were comfortable that he could throw."
“When we sign a player it means we back the player. We believe in their abilities,” said Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani.
"The big challenge though is, and I don’t think many people know this, Joseph has an unorthodox throwing technique. Maybe in France and some of the other places that Joseph has played, they have tried to change that."
"And that may have caused problems. I told him from the outset that I want him to throw the way he wants to throw. As long as the ball is straight and gets into the hands of the jumpers, that is all I care about."
“When Joseph first got here I said: ‘You got to have a strong heart’.
“The thing about him is that numbers don’t lie. Sometimes one skew line-out or one overthrow can cloud the fact that you have thrown 42 line-outs and you have only missed two."
“If I wasn’t a coach and if I was maybe a keyboard warrior or spectator, I would probably just look at the two missed line-outs. However, from my point of view, I think Joseph has really done well since he has been here and the numbers are there to show it.
“The key thing is that he must back himself. I am not concerned about one or two bad throws or anything like that."
“The big picture counts for me and I think that has really helped him relax and he understands that he fits in well in that picture."
“We just want everyone to be themselves and enjoy their game. There has been some good improvement around certain parts of his game.”
“I think he has found himself with us. He does throw slightly differently but we back his technique as it gives us the balls we want. He is now comfortable because we embrace it. I think at the Stormers we do well with dealing with people who do things differently and have different techniques. We back Joseph to be himself and allow him to be himself.”