The Stormers are on a play-off footing as they enter their final sequence of United Rugby Championship games, starting tonight in Newport, where they tackle the Dragons (8.35pm kick-off, SA time).
The Capetonians play Connacht next week in Galway before finishing at home against the Lions on June 1, and captain Salmaan Moerat says they have to treat each game as a knockout as they attempt to improve on their fifth position on the log.
The Stormers are desperate to break into the top four to gain a home quarter-final.
“In terms of the objective of the game, we haven’t been in this position before so we are treating the Dragons (game) as a play-off,” Moerat said from Newport yesterday.
“We made it hard for ourselves by losing at home to the Ospreys.
“So, looking forward, this is a very important two-match tour for us.
“We’ve had a good week of preparation and were fortunate that last week was a bye for us and we were not involved in the cup games.
“It has helped in that we just needed to do a few touch-ups on Monday before travelling, and since then it has been more about recovering and getting ourselves ready for the game.”
Happily, the weather in Wales is behaving as the northern hemisphere moves into summer, and the Stormers should be able to play their usual attacking game.
“The weather has been nice, and they expect good weather for the match. We are excited about that, and it feels like we have brought the weather from Cape Town,” the No 4 lock said.
We kicked off @Vodacom #URC Kids Round with Maindee Primary at our Captain's Run at Rodney Parade. Great to see #CommunitiesUnited again and thanks to @dragonsrugby for helping bring everyone together. #iamastormer #dhldelivers pic.twitter.com/fTTJYFfvbI
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) May 9, 2024
Moerat said that the Dragons’ position in the table (second-last in 15th) meant little to John Dobson’s Cape side.
“Two years ago, we had a really tough game against them – it was one of most physical games of that season,” the Springbok second-rower said.
“It is their last home game, so they will be up for it. The URC in general is such a competitive competition, and often the difference in log positions means little on the day.
“The Dragons have some quality internationals and they will be well prepared.”
The Stormers welcomed back Angelo Davids, Sti Sithole and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to their match-23 yesterday, with star Bok Damian Willemse unavailable for selection due to a personal matter.
Davids is on the wing in a backline that features Wandisile Simelane and Dan du Plessis in midfield, while Feinberg-Mngomezulu is on a replacements bench which also includes halfbacks Stefan Ungerer and Jean-Luc du Plessis.
Sithole is in the front row alongside Frans Malherbe and Joseph Dweba, while the only other change to the starting pack sees Willie Engelbrecht included on the side of the scrum.
“We are happy to see the guys back,” Moerat said. “We’re so pleased for Sti. He was doing so well before got injured. He is one of the top players.
“Brok (Harris) did a great job when we had that crisis at loosehead, so it is good to have a quality player back.
“Sti takes a lot of pride in scrum work, and his return adds experience and expertise in a key part of our game.”
Our team to take on @dragonsrugby under the lights at Rodney Parade on Friday night.
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) May 9, 2024
📢 Full announcement https://t.co/LIfcGY3ecj#DRAvSTO #iamastormer #dhldelivers pic.twitter.com/3jpIvkYjKT
Meanwhile, assistant coach Dawie Snyman said the Stormers are shaping up nicely as they tackle the business end of the tournament.
“Yes, this is close to our strongest team, and that is great because we have to get the result and we want to build a bit of cohesion going into these last few games.
“Damian had a personal matter he had to attend to, and he only joined the team today.
“Obviously we can only select guys who are available to train during the week, but he will be available for the Connacht game next week.”
Stormers Team
15 Warrick Gelant 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg 13 Wandisile Simelane 12 Dan du Plessis 11 Angelo Davids 10 Manie Libbok 9 Herschel Jantjies 8 Evan Roos 7 Ben-Jason Dixon 6 Willie Engelbrecht 5 Ruben van Heerden 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain) 3 Frans Malherbe 2 Joseph Dweba 1 Sti Sithole.
Bench: 16 André-Hugo Venter 17 Brok Harris 18 Neethling Fouché 19 Adré Smith 20 Hacjivah Dayimani 21 Stefan Ungerer 22 Jean-Luc du Plessis 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.