Suleiman Hartzenberg made his Stormers debut less than a year after matriculating from Bishops — expect him to experience rugby as a Springbok at some point in 2024.
Hartzenberg is part of Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus’s thinking, having been selected for the South African A side at the end of 2022 and among a new group invited to the first Springboks’ alignment camp of 2024.
Hartzenberg’s versatility is as big a factor as his natural talent. He is comfortable on either wing and at outside centre, where he will play on Saturday against one of the game’s best in Lukhanyo Am.
In the Stormers last match of 2023, Hartzenberg lined up on the wing opposite another Springbok World Cup winner in Makazole Mapimpi.
Hartzenberg held his own against Mapimpi and the Stormers coaching staff had no hesitation in naming him to counter the threat of Am, who between 2019 and 2022 was consistently among the best No. 13s in world rugby.
Injury curtailed Am’s 2023 season and he was injured when the 2023 World Cup squad was confirmed. He would make it to France as a late injury replacement but did not make any of the match-23 play-off squads, with Jesse Kriel’s tournament form rewarded with selection in all three Springbok wins en route to retaining the title.
Hartzenberg, despite still being just 20 years old, has also had his share of injuries and he spent several months out of the game in 2023. It really is a case of the new kid on the block against the seasoned veteran, and his performance against Am will give Erasmus the greatest insight into his potential to play Test rugby in the No. 13 jersey.
He will probably get his introduction to Test rugby as a winger, but his long-term future, as with Bulls winger Canan Moodie, could be in the No. 13 jersey.
Age is merely a number for the likes of Dobson and Erasmus and both the Stormers and Springboks have benefited from this type of thinking.
The talent available to Erasmus is the envy of most countries, but Erasmus has made his own future more comfortable by being prepared to select teenage players, while a coach like John Dobson, at the Stormers, has always relished the idea of creating playing opportunities for the best young talent.
Age is merely a number for the likes of Dobson and Erasmus and both the Stormers and Springboks have benefited from this type of thinking.
Hartzenberg, schooled at the rugby-rich Bishops, has plenty of rugby pedigree in his family. He is the younger brother of Cheetahs winger Munier and former Western Province loose-forward Yaya.
Dobson, on the eve of Hartzenberg’s Stormers debut as a 19 year-old, spoke of the player’s potential and outrageous attacking skill set. The maturity in his game could only come through playing, which is why Dobson has picked him every time he has been available.
When I spoke with Dobson about Hartzenberg’s all-round game, he focused on the mental strength of a player so young and of the rugby intellect ingrained in his psyche, no doubt aided by being the younger brother of two siblings who were already playing professional rugby.
It is Hartzenberg’s calm that is a feature of his play, and he reminds me so much of Moodie in how effortless it all looks. Both youngsters have a presence that sometimes only comes a decade into a player’s career.
It is great to have URC derby action back this weekend after a tournament break due to the first two rounds of the Six Nations, with the Stormers in Durban and Jake White’s Bulls up against the Lions in Johannesburg.
The Bulls and Stormers are well placed in the URC and the Sharks’ lowly league standing betrays the quality of players in the Sharks squad.
The derby factor also usually rips up the form book or league positioning, and these derby matches are often decided in the final minutes and by one score.
The Bulls beat the Lions in Pretoria by two points, and this included the Lions missing a long-range penalty to win with the last kick of the match.
Equally the Sharks against the Stormers in Cape Town on December 30 2023. The Stormers won by a point, 16-15.
Very little separates the South African sides in the URC as the players also view each derby battle as a Springboks trial. In the context of Durban on Saturday night, 5.05pm kick-off, it will be massive for Hartzenberg. Keep an eye on that battle with Am because it is the one the national coach will be viewing closest.
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