South Western Districts Eagles coach Eric Sauls is hopeful that his Stormers counterpart Alan Solomons will not ignore the young talent in George when selecting his Super 12 squad.
Solomons last week announced a 35-man group to attend a Stormers training camp in George from January 8. Their 2001 Super 12 campaign starts on February 24, with a home fixture against the Cats.
Sauls, who was unaware that Solomons had announced a training group, is backing his youngsters to make an impression when they face the Stormers in a warm-up game early next month.
"Alan has not spoken to me yet," he told the Cape Argus. "In a way it is worrying and I sincerely hope that the door has not been shut on SWD players to make the Stormers group.
"I can understand his thinking because we have a lot of new players, but I trust that Alan will have a clearer picture of the talent we have here when SWD play the Stormers in one of their warm-up matches in George early in February," he said.
Sauls, who coached the South African under-21 team to a Sanzar Southern Alliance tournament victory in 1999, has recruited a host of talented youngsters for the upcoming season. Players like Danie van Rooyen, Flippie Spies (Bulls), JC Roux (Eastern Province) and Francois du Toit (Lions) will all be fighting for places in the Eagles line-up this year.
"As far as the Stormers go, I am looking to that warm-up match to show the country the young talent we have. Granted, they are inexperienced, but we cannot ignore them," Sauls said.
Meanwhile, Boland assistant coach Jerome Paarwater is expected to be named as Solomons' No 2 later this week. It was rumoured that Paarwater had received offers from an Italian club, but decided to stay because of his likely Super 12 involvement.
Stormers training group: Stuart Abbott, Jan Ackermann, Adri Badenhorst, De Wet Barry, Rob Brink, Quinton Davids, John Daniels, Neil de Kock, Pieter Dixon, Pietie Ferreira, Robbie Fleck, Hendrik Gerber, Werner Greeff, Marius Joubert, Robbie Kempson, Hottie Louw, Robert Markham, Charl Marais, Percy Montgomery, Breyton Paulse, Faan Rautenbach, Chris Rssouw, Pieter Rossouw, Chean Roux, Bob Skinstad, John Slade, Thys Stoltz, Toks van der Linde, Carel van der Merwe, Morne van der Merwe, Martin van Schalkwyk, Braam van Straaten, Johan van Wyk, Dan van Zyl, Joggie Viljoen.