Cobus Reinach has tasted the talent, Rassie Erasmus has opened the kitchen door, and 20-year-old Yaqeen Ahmed is ready to bring his rugby recipe to the Springboks.
Yaqeen Ahmed is cooking up a storm, and South African rugby’s most demanding head chef, Rassie Erasmus, has invited the young DHL Stormers flyhalf into his kitchen.
Known affectionately as ‘The Chef’, Ahmed has served up a mouth-watering taste of his talent, combining composure, rugby intelligence and a killer instinct that has caught the attention of veteran Springbok scrumhalf Cobus Reinach.
At 20, the rising playmaker has earned his first senior Springbok call-up, becoming one of six uncapped players named in Erasmus’s 37-man squad for the November leg of the Nations Championship. The selection is a significant milestone for a youngster whose career is beginning to bubble with promise.
Ahmed turned up the heat in the Stormers’ 52-40 victory over the Scarlets last weekend, coming off the bench to score two decisive tries in the final 10 minutes. With the game simmering towards a frantic finish, he supplied the finishing touches and helped the Cape side dish out a victory seasoned with attacking flair.
For Reinach, the youngster’s age is no longer a talking point. His rugby brain is already serving up answers well beyond his years.
“Yeah, Yaq [Yaqeen Ahmed] showed his class. He is 20, but he’s got a big rugby brain and blood in him. He can play some good rugby, and yeah, age does not really matter anymore. The boys back him, and he backs himself, so that’s what’s good,” Reinach said at Tuesday’s media conference.
That is a hearty endorsement from a scrumhalf who understands the split-second decisions, tactical discipline and composure required at the highest level. Test rugby is a notoriously unforgiving restaurant: one poor decision can leave a team with a bitter aftertaste, while a moment of brilliance can change the entire menu.
Ahmed has already demonstrated that he possesses the ingredients. His challenge is to blend them consistently against opponents who will dissect every pass, kick and defensive lapse.
His rise has been swift. After making his Junior Springbok debut at the 2026 U20 Rugby Championship, he represented the South African ‘A’ team before receiving his senior national invitation. He now joins established Stormers flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in the Springbok setup, a development that underlines the Cape franchise’s growing influence on the national team.
Loose forward Paul de Villiers is another product of that production line. Former Lions scrumhalf Haashim Pead, the 2025 World Rugby Junior Player of the Year, has also added fresh spice to the Stormers’ attack since joining the franchise. Pead scored in his first start of the campaign against the Scarlets and earned man-of-the-match honours.
Reinach believes the young players have enormous potential, although the final recipe for success remains in their own hands.
“All the young players here. They have so much talent, and you can’t limit them, but like I said, the work they put in is where they’re going to go at the end of the day.”
That philosophy dovetails neatly with Erasmus’s approach to building a Springbok squad capable of surviving the gruelling demands of international rugby. Depth is essential, and young players must be given opportunities to develop before the pressure cooker reaches boiling point.
“We’ve had all six players on our radar for a while now, and they’ve delivered consistently for their respective franchises in the last two seasons, so they thoroughly deserve their call-ups,” Erasmus said.
“The ingredients are there. The talent is simmering. Can @RassieRugby The Chef and the rest of the newcomers serve up a special @Springboks dish? #Springboks #Stormers #YaqeenAhmed pic.twitter.com/EVUTZUjP4X
— Adnaan Mohamed (@Adnaan1111) October 28, 2026
The other five newcomers are Sebastian de Klerk, Luan Giliomee, Markus Muller, Riley Norton and Emmanuel Tshituka. All six have previously been involved in the wider Springbok environment, with Ahmed, Giliomee, Muller and Tshituka representing the SA ‘A’ team against Zimbabwe. Norton featured for the Springboks against the Barbarians, while De Klerk attended the national alignment camp last season.
Erasmus has made squad depth one of the pillars of South Africa’s success, and he believes the newcomers have earned their chance.
“Building squad depth has always been one of our key pillars as a team, and all those players have shown that they have what it takes to compete at top franchise level, while Riley, Luan and Yaqeen were also part of Junior Springbok squads that have won the Junior World Championship, and Luan also played for the Blitzboks, so they know what it takes to perform at top level.”
The coach is under no illusion about the challenge awaiting his recruits.
“There is no doubt facing some of the top teams in elite international rugby will be a completely different challenge, but we have full faith in them to do their best on tour.”
Injuries to Cheslin Kolbe, Eben Etzebeth, Andre Esterhuizen and Handre Pollard have affected Erasmus’s selection options, creating opportunities for others to step forward. The coach acknowledged the disappointment of losing such experienced campaigners while expressing confidence in the squad’s cover.
“It’s always sad to lose players of that calibre, but we are pleased with the cover we have in those positions, and it also offers other players the opportunity to put up their hands.”
Ahmed’s call-up therefore carries both opportunity and expectation. The youngster must show he can handle the speed, physicality and tactical complexity of Test rugby, where international defences rarely leave the oven door open for long.
The Springboks face Italy on 7 November, France on 13 November and Ireland on 21 November before the Nations Championship Finals Weekend in London from 27 to 29 November. Erasmus expects three distinctly difficult courses.
“Each one of these teams will pose different threats and challenge us in various ways, and the fact that these matches now form part of a competition will add even more impetus to these games,” he said.
Italy will have home support behind them, France bring formidable quality, and Ireland have enjoyed recent success against South Africa. Erasmus warned against underestimating the Italians, described the French challenge as another potential epic battle and stressed that Ireland would be equally difficult to overcome.
“Both France and Ireland have also won two of their three Nations Championship matches to date and will be eyeing a spot as the top-placed Northern Hemisphere team, so we need to be sharp, accurate, and adaptable in all our remaining matches to achieve the desired results if we want to finish the league stages as the top team.”
He added: “This is an intense competition and every point counts, and every team we face as well as those in our pool will be wary of that, so we have a big job ahead, and it will be important to hit the ground running.”
For Ahmed, the immediate task is to absorb the lessons, sharpen his craft and prove he can deliver when the stakes rise. His nickname may be ‘The Chef’, but international rugby will demand far more than a few spectacular finishing touches.
The ingredients are promising. The first taste has been delicious. Now comes the real test: can South Africa’s newest young playmaker cook under pressure when the world’s toughest defences turn up the heat?
