It would have been illuminating to have an insight into what was going through the mind of DHL Stormers director of rugby John Dobson as the absorbing end to the Vodacom United Rugby Championship regular season played itself out this past Saturday afternoon.
Dobson was always very confident that his team could handle the Hollywoodbets Sharks in what for a long time, up until Benetton’s shock win in Treviso over Glasgow Warriors in the penultimate round, looked the Stormers’ likely opponents in their quarterfinal. The Sharks have been well short of a gallop and while every week it is anticipated that they will put it right, that just isn’t happening.
While they got what they were looking for against the Scarlets in their final league game, they didn’t produce anything to challenge Dobson’s conviction that even at Hollywoodbets Kings Park the Sharks are very beatable. He’s right too, and had the Stormers been heading to Durban in two weeks time it would have been hard not to make them favourites on current form.
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But they’re not heading up the coast, instead they will be heading across the equator on Friday as they make an early start to their preparations for the following Friday’s Finals Series game at the Scotstoun. They lost there in the corresponding quarterfinal last year so it is understandable that it was the trip the Stormers wanted to avoid, at least before Glasgow suddenly hit a dip that started with a 52-0 loss to Leinster in the Investec Champions Cup six weeks ago.
GLASGOW’S FORM HAD CHANGED DOBSON’S MIND
However, Dobson admitted after the 34-24 win over Cardiff that secured his team a fifth placed finish that his thinking had changed in the preceding week, mainly directed by Glasgow’s comprehensive defeat to Benetton.
“A few weeks ago I really wanted us to be going to Durban to be playing the Sharks, but that has changed, I am now quite positive about a trip to Glasgow,” said Dobson.
But he was talking a full 24 hours before the Glasgow game against Leinster, where they were highly competitive and where even in defeat the reigning champions should have gained plenty of confidence. Given that the game came just after the one in Durban, where the Sharks were so abjectly disappointing given the resources they have at their disposal, Dobson might well have gone to bed on Saturday night wishing that he had engineered something against Cardiff that would have sent his team to Kings Park rather than Scotstoun.
However, there’s still plenty of reason for the Stormers to be upbeat, even though their routing to a possible final is as tough as it gets - if they win at the Scotstoun, they will be heading to AVIVA Stadium to play Leinster (assuming Leinster beat the Scarlets).
IN A GOOD GROOVE

They’ve hit a great groove over the past few weeks and could teach their coastal rivals from Durban quite a bit about connecting with the DNA of the region you represent. They have dazzled with their attacking game whereas the Sharks are doing the exact opposite.
The manner of how they have scripted their wins makes them a dangerous opponent regardless of where the playoff games are played. They have the potential for instance to do what Northampton Saints did to Leinster in the recent Champions Cup final by scoring quick successive tries to mount quick points and a lead on the scoreboard.
It is a puncher's chance against good opponents, but it is a chance nonetheless - particularly if Damian Willemse is present to turn the Stormers’ attacking X-factor triumvirate over the past few games into a quartet. Damian Willemse didn’t play against Cardiff and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was benched, so that game never saw the full extent of what the Stormers could put together.
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Dobson has been working towards including Manie Libbok, who made an impressive return at flyhalf against Cardiff, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Willemse and Gelant in the same backline in the first playoff game - and what team wouldn’t be wary of a side that can pack that attacking potential.
However, Willemse’s red card incurred just before the hour mark for one of those unfortunate incidents around tackle height was the one blight on what was a good seasonal swansong at DHL Stadium. With Willemse’s departure from the field came the realisation that a suspension will put him out of the Glasgow game and they need all hands on deck for those opponents at that venue.
“It was disastrous for us, there’s no other way of putting it. Obviously there will be a hearing pending and then we will decide if there needs to be an appeal, and I still have to look at the incident properly, but if we lose Damian it will be a disaster for us,” Dobson acknowledged afterwards.
SACHA AND MANIE WOULD BE LETHAL 10/12 COMBINATION
Well, yes and no. Of course the World Cup winner will be missed if he is not there, but the utility value of some of their players means that the Stormers could still go to Glasgow with a formidable attacking team.
Libbok is a world class flyhalf and while Feinberg-Mngomezulu reminded us when he came on that so is he, the younger player is also good elsewhere in the backline, and until this season had played most of his Stormers games at inside centre. Libbok and Feinberg-Mngomezulu in the key 10/12 decision making axis is one that most teams would chew your arm off for, and it looked highly promising when the pair started games in those positions in December, only for Feinberg-Mngomezulu to be injured in the first half of both games (against the Lions and Sharks).
Having to plot against that combination would be a tough ask for any defence coach and that is what the Stormers could take to Glasgow. First prize is for Willemse to somehow get off without a suspension, in which case we could see Libbok at 10, Feinberg-Mngomezulu at 12 and Willemse at 13.
There were no other setbacks or injuries and with the back up players like Dave Ewers, Louw Nel and others excelling on the night, the Stormers do have the depth they need should they get beyond the Glasgow obstacle. But it all comes down to one game and one 80 minute performance and not having Willemse there would mean they go from having a good chance of winning to having more of an outside chance.