Stormers director of rugby John Dobson says Springbok lock Salmaan Moerat will return to the captaincy role now that he’s back to match fitness.
Veteran forward Deon Fourie led the Cape side on two occasions since returning from a long injury lay-off - against the Lions at Cape Town Stadium in a crucial United Rugby Championship fixture, and against the Sharks in a nail-biting encounter at the same venue one week later.
While a contingent of the Stormers were preparing for their home clash against the Johannesburg outfit, Moerat led an understrength Stormers side in their Championship Cup fixture against Harlequins in London.
The team are currently preparing for their second home Championship Cup challenge - but their first in Cape Town - after losing to Toulon in Gqeberha in the opening round.
Dropping this game will effectively put the Stormers out of Champions Cup contention following the dent made to their campaign by their defeats in the Eastern Cape and London.
Speaking on the captaincy with Telecom Asia Sport, Dobson explained the decision to appoint Fourie captain in place of Moerat, who is the side’s regular season skipper.
Salmaan has returned from long-term injury. We had separate teams in London and one preparing in Cape town for the Lions, which Deon was leading throughout the preparation whilst Salmaan was leading and preparing the squad in London.
He was captain for that game and was meant to be on the bench for the Lions as we eased him back into top rugby. Unfortunately, Ruben van Heerden pulled out just before the game, so Salmaan came into the starting lineup at the last minute.
Deon was already the captain in Salmaan's absence. The plan communicated to all the playing squad was for the same squad to play these two games given we only had one and a half training days with Christmas et cetera. Salmaan was part of that decision.
The Stormers mentor confirmed that Moerat will return to the leading role for the upcoming fixtures, while adding that there would be operational variations in terms of the captaincy over the course of the season.
Deon has massive respect amongst all the players, massive respect as a World Cup winner who is the captain of the Springboks, de facto, at the end of the World Cup final.
Salmaan is the Stormers captain, has captained South Africa and is the official Stormers captain and also enjoys massive respect and will resume his normal duties now that he's back to match fitness and we enter into normal training weeks after disruptions of the Harlequins separate squad and Christmas.
The Stormers take on Sale Sharks at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday, January 11, at 15h00.
