CAPE TOWN - On Thursday afternoon, Nizaam Carr posted an interesting picture on Instagram that would have had diehard Stormers fans shedding a tear or two.
“Finally settled in,” read the caption to a photo of the No 8 wearing a Bulls vest and cowboy hat.
So, Carr has now gone full Pretoria – and some of his friends, including former Wasps teammates Brad Shields, Marcus Watson and Lima Sopoaga, as well as Cheetahs wing Rosko Specman and France kicking coach Vlok Cilliers, had a good chuckle at his expense.
On the field, though, it has been a challenging period for the 29-year-old since he returned from England.
He missed out on the opening Super Rugby Unlocked game against Griquas due to a niggle sustained in the Springbok Showdown, played off the bench against the Cheetahs, and was left out entirely for last week’s resounding 41-14 win over the Sharks.
During that time, Marco van Staden has been a stand-out performer at openside flank, Elrigh Louw and Arno Botha have made strong claims for the blindside berth, and Duane Vermeulen has been a rock at No 8.
But the former Stormers stalwart was brought back into the match-23 for Saturday’s clash against his old team at Loftus Versfeld, and Bulls director of rugby Jake White believes that the five-Test Springbok will be eager to prove a point against the Capetonians.
“I said before that we are going to rotate and give him a chance, and he is a good player. He knows Province, and there’s probably going to be something extra from him as well because he knows most of them and played with most of them,” the ex-Bok coach said.
“I thought it would be a good game to bring him back, give him a chance to show his worth again. He has been training well, and I am sure he is looking forward to getting a chance.
“I thought that a guy like Nizaam against Province – I just find having coached for a long time, sometimes when you play against your old province, you sort of find something extra.”
Carr won’t have an easy time of it, though, as the Stormers still have a strong loose trio despite the absence of the injured captain Siya Kolisi and Bok star Pieter-Steph du Toit.
Juarno Augustus is a juggernaut at No 8, Ernst van Rhyn is a powerful carrier at blindside flank and Jaco Coetzee has an impressive work-rate at openside.
They are a bit short on reserves, though, with Under-21 player Marcel Theunissen on the bench, as coach John Dobson is still weighing up the option of using one of two locks – David Meihuizen and Ben-Jason Dixon – as back-up flanks following an injury to Nama Xaba.
@ashfakmohamed