Centre Ruhan Nel is relishing the opportunity to return for the DHL Stormers in their 2024/25 Vodacom United Rugby Championship opener in Wales.
The DHL Stormers will face the Ospreys at the Dunraven Brewery Stadium in Swansea on Saturday, and Nel is eager to get stuck in again.
The 33-year-old made his comeback from a lengthy injury layoff in a warm-up encounter against the Airlink Pumas last week, which served as the DHL Stormers’ final preparation for the new season.
“It’s been a long nine months,” Nel said. “I’m just looking forward to getting stuck in. The nerves are there, not necessarily about the playing, but I just want everything to go smoothly with the knee and body.
“Last week did me good. I got 40 minutes on the pitch against the Airlink Pumas. They are a quality outfit. It was good just to run around a bit and find confidence in my knee.”
Nel suffered a knee ligament injury against the Hollywoodbets Sharks at DHL Stadium in December, yet the former Springbok Sevens star is ready to play a key role for the DHL Stormers again.
“I was fortunate that by the time I was ready to get onto the field, the Carling Currie Cup boys were training already. Luckily, I have had that rugby training for quite a while,” he explained.
“Of course, it’s different putting on a DHL Stormers jersey and playing. It does feel a little bit like a debut, with the nerves, but I’m not too worried.”
A 29-man DHL Stormers squad left Cape Town on Tuesday for a three-week European tour in the Vodacom URC that includes clashes with Zebre (5 October) and Edinburgh (12 October) in Italy and Scotland, respectively.
Damian Willemse and Keke Morabe have also returned from injury and make the trip, with new signing Dave Ewers and promising loose forward Louw Nel in line to make their Vodacom URC debuts for the DHL Stormers, while lock JD Schickerling and scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage are set to make their first appearances since returning to Cape Town.
“JD is back with us. He and Ruben [van Heerden] are finding a bit of a combination. Louw Nel is touring with us for the first time. Keke has been out injured for a while. There’s a lot of new guys playing on tour with the DHL Stormers for the first time,” Nel said.
“From our perspective, it’s about finding cohesion on the field. We are trying to perfect our game model and the way we want to play, so with that comes time spent together on and off the field. It’s well documented how Dobbo [Director of Rugby John Dobson] loves a happy team.”
Wandisile Simelane and Suleiman Hartzenberg have emerged as challengers to Nel for the DHL Stormers No. 13 jersey after strong outings for DHL Western Province in the Carling Currie Cup.
“I think it’s great,” Nel said. “I firmly believe that the more internal competition there is in a squad, the better it is for that squad. The whole morale goes up, the internal competition heats up and training becomes better.”