Cape Town - There was a genuine concern in the Stormers and Western Province camp on how they'll replace quicksilver Springbok Warrick Gelant when he left for France after their title-winning United Rugby Championship (URC) campaign last season.
Gelant was one of the axes that the Cape side had built their devastating attack around, and his departure was sure to leave a void in the side especially on the attack.
But a good piece of business by head coach John Dobson and Western Province Professional Rugby was the acquisition of journeyman Clayton Blommetjies.
The 32-year-old Paarl-born player has been at the Bulls, Cheetahs, Scarlets, Leicester Tigers and then the Cheetahs again, before deciding to head back home.
Ever since he planted his roots back in Cape Town, Blommetjies has been blooming on the rugby field.
How he's adapted to what the Stormers and WP asked of him, has delighted his coaches to the point that he's become a regular starter very quickly.
"I was worried about 'Blomme' ' when he first came down," Dobson recently said.
"He didn’t quite get our defence system. Our back three run massive distances and I wasn’t sure he'd be able to cover it. He was running 30% or 40% less than them.
"We’ve invested so much in trying to coach him and he’s responded so well. I think he’s heading towards another success story.”
Dobson was also impressed that Blommetjies didn't hesitate to make his Currie Cup debut recently even if the Stormers have some tough games coming up in the URC. With a few Currie Cup players injured, Dobson decided to pull Blommetjies up for the trip to Gauteng and he was happy to accept the call of his coach.
He played a crucial role in Province defeating the Lions, where he was voted as player of the match, and against the Bulls at Loftus more recently he also starred against his former employers.
Blommetjies established himself as a team player in the sense that he makes things happen for his teammates and will do anything so long as the team shows progress.
While the Stormers depended heavily on Gelant to spark the attack, Blommetjies can do that but he also knows when to lay back.
And just like Gelant did, Blommetjies can use both feet when kicking from the back to relieve pressure.
He's been pretty effective hitting the 50-22 kicks for both the Stormers and WP.
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The big test for Blommetjies, though, that Gelant passed with flying colours last season, is how he'll step up in the end game of the URC.
The Stormers have secured a home quarter-final but will have to stay ahead of Ulster over the next couple of games if they want to keep the second place on the log to bring a possible semi-final to Cape Town.
@Leighton_K
IOL Sport