Deon Fourie won’t be there but the DHL Stormers have every reason to feel confident as they head to the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast on Friday night in search of a result that could put them strongly in the mix for a top five or even top four finish.
The second possibility is an unlikely one, but with the Hollywoodbets Sharks not particularly flush this past weekend against Zebre and due to face a Leinster team now suddenly facing a bit of pressure in the race for top spot, it is not completely inconceivable that the Stormers could be just seven or six points away from the top four at the end of the coming weekend.
And after that they have a run of four home games at their DHL Stadium fortress to look forward to while the third and fourth-placed Bulls still have tough tours in their future. So don’t bet on it, but don’t completely rule it out that the Stormers could still get a home quarterfinal.
What is looking increasingly likely though is that the Stormers will play a quarterfinal in South Africa. If the Bulls and Sharks remain in the third and fourth placings, and the Stormers finish fifth or sixth, they will be travelling to Loftus or Hollywoodbets Kings Park for the first playoff game.
PLENTY TO PLAY FOR
That is certainly a more liveable proposition for them than going north of the equator to play Leinster or Glasgow Warriors at venues where they have lost the last few times they’ve visited.
But first things first for the Stormers, and as the coaches and players like to say, let’s take each game one at a time. Ulster snuck home against the Dragons away at the weekend and have not been playing well, but they are just one point behind the Stormers. In other words, one off the top eight, with five league games to play.
So they have plenty to play for, not that they need extra motivation against a Stormers team that has never beaten them at the Kingspan Stadium but which they have an intense rivalry with dating back to the inaugural URC season when they felt a disputed refereeing call cost them in the first ever game between the teams.
That same campaign they were knocked out in the semifinal stage by a Manie Libbok conversion with the last kick of the game.
The Stormers will feel they are driven by more of a positive pressure than a negative pressure following their five log point haul against Scarlets in a 29-17 win that wasn’t quite as comprehensive as that scoreline would suggest. It was late in the game that the Stormers scored to take them more than a score ahead, although they were more than a score ahead for much of it.
Coach John Dobson acknowledged that it wasn’t a perfect performance but to say that he should have been satisfied with a win against a team that was sixth on the log not that long ago would be a massive understatement.
“It was one of those games where we take the outcome over the process. It wasn’t poor, it was just we were under the pump,” said Dobson.
“The players afterwards are very much ‘job done’ sort of thing, you know. As coaches, it was a really stressful, intense experience,” Dobson added.
“The players afterwards are very much in that ‘job done’ sort of mode. As coaches, it was a really stressful, intense experience.”
Getting across the line did mean that the Stormers got the maximum they could have got out of the game, and it was Fourie who said last week that a win would take a lot of the pressure off in the buildup to the Ulster game.
They got the win, but unfortunately the Stormers veteran won’t be involved in the Ulster game as a player after coming off at Parc Y Scarlets with concussion. The concussion was suffered in a clash with Stormers captain Salmaan Moerat.
“Unfortunately, it’s an HIA 1, by the fact that he was knocked out. It means he’s out for the next game. So, that’s a bit of a blow for us,” Dobson said.
“It’s just a concussion, so he will be back next time we play after this (mid-April). He didn’t want to come off, but the damage was done.”
FULL METAL JACKET FOR ULSTER
Dobson said that after the away wins over the Bulls at Loftus and now in Llanelli, the mood in the camp is good as they go into their final away game before they return home for four consecutive games in front of the DHL Stadium faithful.
“It’ll be full metal jacket for this game. There’s going to be a couple of reinforced changes. We definitely want to get Suleiman Hartzenberg back on the field. So it will be the best team, less Deon. The other change is that Frans Malherbe will go back to Cape Town.
"We agreed to rest Frans for this game, so it’s Neethling Fouche coming in for Frans.”
Fouche missed the Scarlets game because he stayed in Cape Town to be at the birth of his second child.
Dobson believes the squad is building momentum at the right time and it helps him that some key players have returned just at the right time from injury layoffs.
“Having the calmness of Damian Willemse and Warrick (Gelant) was really important, and I think Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) played brilliantly. They will be even better next week. The group is feeling confident and happy.”
With the Stormers not in the EPCR competitions after being knocked out in the Investec Champions Cup phase, the Cape team will have a three week break after this before they come back for four weeks of home games in succession. They can afford to give it everything as they go into a short turnaround week.