There’s inherent risk but also high reward in Stormers’ template

The DHL Stormers’ game against Benetton had hardly finished when the first WhatsApp message came through from a fan of the Cape franchise: “If we paid money for Warrick Gelant he should give it back”.

It was only one sentiment but likely to have been shared by many on a day where the Stormers fullback’s bag of tricks just never worked out. An inclination to be too adventurous on a day and in a game where a more pragmatic and safety first approach was called for contributed to a rare consecutive Vodacom United Rugby Championship defeat that heaps the pressure on ahead of Saturday’s clash with Munster.

Looking back, it was something that was telegraphed a few weeks back, when the Stormers hosted the Scarlets in Stellenbosch on the day of the World Cup final. The Stormers ran riot against the Welsh team, and in my match report I wrote that the hosts had played with “a kind of nonchalance”.

Coach John Dobson was in complete agreement with that expression when it was put to him afterwards, but said that it was overdone. He wasn’t completely happy and he mentioned Gelant as a player who was in “one of those moods where he just wants to express himself”. Dobson clearly felt there were times self-expression could be overdone and that it might cost the Stormers down the track in a tighter game.

DOBSON APPEARS VEXED

Now it has, and while he never named Gelant, it was apparent from what Dobson said in the online post-match press conference from Treviso that he might be a bit vexed about what to do about Gelant’s eagerness to show his full box of tricks.

“As much as Benetton fought really hard (in defence) we threw that game away. We were very impatient and we made curious decisions with the ball with ill advised cross kicks etc,” said Dobson.

“There was some really bad decision making, but it is not something you easily fix. Do you walk into the changeroom now and shout at Mr X? There are some X-factor players who just play like that and we do reap the rewards when those attacks come off. Had they come off, as they have in the past, we would be singing the players’ praises and talking about his brilliance.”

Dobson is spot on when he says it isn’t easy to fix, and he is right if he is worried about how far he should go in curbing it. The unpredictability of the Stormers X-factor players at the back is a big part of what made the Stormers finalists in the URC two years in a row.

Dobson has given his players freedom to express themselves and while Gelant produced some hair raising moments trying to spark attacks from inside his own 22 against the Scarlets, some of those paid off and were worth the price of the admission ticket on their own. There was something very Harlem Globetrotters about the Stormers performance against Scarlets, it was as if they didn’t have a care in the world and just wanted to put on an exhibition. The skill levels were sublime.

It wasn’t just Gelant of course, and he and Clayton Blommetjies, who played flyhalf that day, appear to have the same mindset and same willingness and ability to do what you’d least expect them to from some field positions and in some situations.

Manie Libbok is similarly wired and like Gelant, it was the way he made his box of tricks translate into devastating attacks that got the Stormers to second on the log in 2021/22 and into the top four again in 2022/23, when together with Damian Willemse the pair of them made up for the absence of Gelant (who spent the season in France).

CROWD SAW A THRILLING EXHIBITION OF SKILLS

Dobson wasn’t completely happy but the crowd that pitched up at Danie Craven Stadium would have left the ground feeling they had seen a exhibition of skill levels that was well worth watching. Libbok and Willemse were away in Paris when the Stormers were burying Scarlets but they will be back in December when the Stormers hit a critical month in their season that includes two big Heineken Champions Cup games, one of them at home against champions La Rochelle, and the festive season URC derbies against the Bulls and Hollywoodbets Sharks.

The Bulls and the Sharks have improved their defensive games from last year but they won’t look forward to facing down a backline that features Libbok, Willemse and Gelant, with those three being so good and so magical at playing off each other and the possible point of difference between the teams.

Of course what they try could be costly, and it was a bad decision from Libbok that effectively cost the Stormers the 2022/23 final against Munster, so Dobson is right to feel he needs to have a conversation with his players. There are periods when the magic boxes need to be put away, and experienced players should have the game awareness to know when that should be. But Stormers fans may have to also accept that the ambition that makes their team so potent is also occasionally going to backfire. What is important is that it pays off more than it fails.