Stormers set to land former World Junior Player of the Year’s services as Springboks hopeful contributes to his release
Lions' scrum-half Haashim Pead and an inset of Stormers boss John Dobson.
Lions scrum-half Haashim Pead will be a Stormers player by early next week, according to reports.
The highly-rated former Junior Springboks number nine will make the move to Cape Town to bolster the club’s halfback stocks after the Lions and Stormers reportedly came to an agreement over his release.
Stormers director of rugby John Dobson confirmed the union’s interest in Pead last week but rubbished reports that the release would cost the club around R800,000.
Fresh reports in South Africa state that the final paperwork to secure the 21-year-old’s services will be completed on Monday, with the scrum-half signing through to 2030 with the Stormers.
Stormers snap up Haashim Pead’s services
According to Rapport, Pead is paying some of the fee to secure his release from his Lions contract that runs through to 2028 himself as he returns to Cape Town in a bid to get more game time.
He made 14 appearances for the Lions last season across the United Rugby Championship and Challenge Cup but started just once for the Johannesburg-based club, with Morne van den Berg and Nico Steyn preferred in the starting XV.
However, he could feature more prominently for the Stormers this season following the retirement of Dewaldt Duvenage and the long-term absence of Imad Khan, who sustained a knee injury in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour clash against the All Blacks. Cobus Reinach is also on the Stormers’ payroll, but he is expected to miss a long chunk of the season due to his commitments with the Springboks.
Rapport details that Pead’s sports agency, Roc Nation, has been negotiating with the Stormers and Lions for weeks to make the move possible, adding that negotiations will be concluded on Monday after the Stormers increased their initial fee.
The move would be a homecoming for Pead, who is a native of the Bo-Kaap suburb in Cape Town and attended Bishops Diocesan College before signing with the Lions.
He is set to compete with the likes of Reinach, Khan, Ezekiel Ngobeni, Jayden Brits and Stefan Ungerer at the Stormers, with Dobson revealing that Andre Warner could turn out for the side through the team’s relationship with MLR club the Seattle Seawolves.
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The news of his possible departure comes after Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen raved about the 2025 World Junior Player of the Year and stated that he could become a Springbok.
“He is an exceptional player. How does he fit in with us? I think Krappie [van den Berg] has cemented himself nicely as a solid top 23 at the Boks. So, between him, Nico, Asad (Moos), Leighton (Horn), Zian (Cilliers) and all the other youngsters that we have, we are looking for that X-factor and a moment that they can create for us. That is Hash, isn’t it?” he told reporters earlier this week.
“Will he get more minutes? I am confident he will. Will he get more opportunities? I am confident he will. Can he become a Bok with us? I am confident he can.”
