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JDJ: Nothing will change

Cape Town - With Duane Vermeulen's neck injury potentially ruling him out for the rest of Super Rugby, centre Juan de Jongh could be thrust into the captaincy for the business end of the season. 

Vermeulen's absence would be considered a major blow for any side, but De Jongh is not overthinking the prospect of captaining the side in the playoffs and beyond. 

"With Duane here or not here things are not going to change," he said.  

"The squad is the same, the game plan is the same. It’s just for me to make sure that the guys are on their A-game. To make sure that the guys hear the right things at the right times."

De Jongh added that it had been pleasing to see the amount of young players delivering this season.

"There’s a lot of juniors coming through, a lot of guys this season that made debuts and have less than 20 caps and they have put up their hands well," said the stand-in skipper.

"For us, we don’t need big name players and a lot of Springboks, but the guys that are in the squad have got a lot of ambition and a lot energy and that’s going to pull us through.

"We’re building on that. We’re getting the energy going, the vibe going, the social going and that’s going to take us through to the tough times that are going to come ahead."

The Stormers take on the Sharks in Durban on Saturday. Kick-off is at 19:10.

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