Cheslin Kolbe: The ‘Man of Steel’

Cheslin Kolbe has become the Stormers' superhero. Their "Man of Steel", and he should be in the Bok squad come June, writes John Goliath.

Cape Town - Cheslin Kolbe has become the Stormers’ superhero. Their “Man of Steel”.

Over the last season and a half, the fullback has only missed one match for the Cape side and that was in a dead rubber against the Sharks when they rested 13 players ahead of their playoff match against the Brumbies.

Kolbe has played every game for the Stormers this year, and hasn’t been able to get a break following the season-ending injuries to utility back Dillyn Leyds and flyhalf Kurt Coleman. But he has soldiered on like the player with a big heart that he is, despite having to leave the field twice in their last three matches for a suspected concussion.

It doesn’t look like he is going to get a break anytime soon. If form is anything to go by, Kolbe should be in the Springbok squad for the June Test series against Ireland, while he is more than likely to be included in the SA Sevens side for the Olympic Games in Rio in August.

Because of this, Stormers coach Robbie Fleck is carefully managing his young fullback, and making his load during training a bit lighter.

“It’s an interesting one, because you don’t know what can happen with the Sevens set-up. He could be called up for the Olympics, so it is a tough one to manage and pinpoint games when we can rest him or not,” Fleck said on Monday.

“Certainly he will be managed during the week. Juan de Jongh is in the same boat. He has played every single game, so we need to look at their workload and we need to manage them.

Fleck says they are still not sure what is going to happen with the Sevens selections after the break for the incoming Test matches in June.

It seems like Kolbe and De Jongh, who played a few tournaments in the first half of the World Series, won’t be playing in next month’s last two tournaments in Paris and England.

However, there is still a chance that powerhouse centre Damian de Allende may be called up for one or both of those tournaments.

De Allende was initially included in the extended Sevens training group, but the ankle injury he sustained while on club duty in Japan meant that he hasn’t been able to train with Neil Powell’s side, let alone play in a tournament.

First, though, De Allende must work his way back into the Stormers starting line-up. After coming back from that ankle injury for the game against the Sunwolves, he has made a few cameos off the bench. But he may just start in Saturday’s Super Rugby match at Newlands against the Reds.

“Both times when he has come off the bench he has had an impact, so when we do select him, hopefully he will take it with both hands and show us what his quality is,” Fleck said.

But Fleck says they are used to the disruptions, and will be able to cope if De Allende is called up for next month’s tournaments.

“If he gets called up for the Sevens and Damian is keen to go to the Olympics, then it's also my responsibility to get him fit and ready for that. We just have to deal with it, like we have dealt with every situation that has come across our desk this year.

“We have been pretty good in handling those situations,” he added “He has got a huge opportunity to play for the Springboks and to play for the Olympic side. Right now his focus is with us and he has got to get as fit as possible.”

Meanwhile, Fleck mentioned that hooker Scarra Ntubeni may be in the mix for selection.

Cape Times