There are always young guns who pick the perfect time to make their presence felt while others battle for higher honours.
The following four stars could make an impact this year.
Aphelele Fassi (21): The Sharks are well stocked up in terms of skilled outside backs but Fassi will be a head turner this season.
When he reeled in Aphiwe Dyantyi in a Currie Cup game last year, people took note of his explosive pace but he's more than that. He's a rounded footballer who can play pretty much anywhere in the backline even though he'll be used at wing or fullback this season.
There's stiff internal competition at the Sharks but, in a season where the team rotates, the best will most probably be rewarded at the end of the season.
Fassi will be used in tactical fits and starts but don't be surprised if he commands a starting spot at some point.
Simphiwe Matanzima (20): The Bulls haven't been very sharp in their acquisition and coaching of front-row forwards and that showed last year when some Mickey Mouse teams showed them flames at set-pieces.
Matanzima though is an exception to the current Bulls rule of skilful props who fail in their scrumming day jobs.
At some point the Bulls will have to rest Lizo Gqoboka and Matanzima will have to get his turn.
Like most props, he's a powerful ball carrier but unlike some Bulls props witnessed over the years, he's actually highly rated in his core scrumming duty. He's a keeper for the Bulls in the future.
Carlu Sadie (21): With the Lions having shed Ruan Dreyer and Jacques van Rooyen, they needed a decent prop and in Sadie they have one.
The Lions have been a good scrumming team but in the past two seasons the Stormers have outflanked them in that department.
Sadie was always going to struggle to break into the Stormers team but his set-piece ability is highly regarded.
With the World Cup year also shining the spotlight on the Bok incumbents, he's got the perfect platform to go about his business quietly and set out his stall for the future.
Juarno Augustus (21): In Augustus the Stormers have a blockbusting and cracker-jack loose forward who is destined for
higher honours.
There's the skill, the physicality and more important, a feel for the game that not a lot of No8s have.
At age group level he came across as a bully with a mean streak, which is a prerequisite for a loose forward to thrive in SA rugby.
He threw his opponents around like rag dolls in the Currie Cup but Super Rugby has a higher level of intensity that will ask different questions of "Trokkie", especially when the New Zealand sides and their abrasive loose-forwards come to town.
His duels with the Du Preez twins (Sharks), Cyle Brink (Lions) and Thembelani Bholi (Bulls) will make for interesting watching, as well as his one with Duane Vermeulen.
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