The DHL Stormers have been boosted by the return to fitness of their club captain Salmaan Moerat but he plays only off the bench so experienced tighthead prop Neethling Fouche will lead the team into action in their final Vodacom URC league game against Cardiff.
The Stormers need to win at Cardiff Arms Park on Friday night in order to finish in the top two, which will secure them home ground advantage in the semifinal round should they win their home quarterfinal. A home quarterfinal is already assured, but Leinster can overtake the Stormers and go into second place if the Stormers continue their poor record in Cardiff.
A win will be enough to clinch second for the Stormers, they don’t need a bonus point to manage that. However, a bonus point win would be useful if Glasgow don’t win with a bonus point against Ulster in a match in Belfast that will be kicking off at the same time as the one in Cardiff will (8:45pm on Friday).
It is a game that both teams will be going all out to win then, with Cardiff on the cusp of what for them would be an historic place in the URC playoffs as well as a return next season to the elite Investec Champions Cup. The stakes are high and Stormers coach John Dobson has made some interesting selections, with Jonathan Roche returning to the midfield to enable Damian Willemse to move to fullback in place of Warrick Gelant.
Fouche sat out last week’s game against Ulster but returns as captain this week due to the absence through injury of Deon Fourie, who was helped from the field early in last week’s 38-all draw in Belfast after being victim of a croc-roll executed by the Ulster captain Iain Henderson
Moerat, who hasn’t played since January due to a toe injury, will bring leadership experience to the match day group, but Dobson has obviously decided that the Springbok lock needs to be reintroduced off the bench rather than as a member of the starting team.
He replaces Conor Evans on the bench, while Fourie comes in as the starting tighthead in place of Sazi Sandi, with the St Andrews College old boy dropping out of the match day 23 completely.
The rotation of front row players would have been planned by Dobson ahead of the tour, but the same may not apply some of the changes at the back, although the pace of Suleiman Hartzenberg on the right wing will certainly be welcomed.
Hartzenberg coming in on the wing means Wandisile Simelane moves inside to the midfield, where he will pair up with Roche, with Leolin Zas continuing on the other wing. The lack of players with proper strike-power out wide is a problem for the Stormers, who are also exposed defensively in the outside channels way too often.
Werner Kock, the former Sharks wing, scored a hattrick against them last week as the Stormers were repeatedly outflanked, something that Cardiff would have noted.
The injury to Fourie doesn’t weaken the Stormers at openside flank as Paul de Villiers has enjoyed a stellar season and has been hugely influential whenever he has worn the No 6 jersey. Dobson will be hoping that there will be better discipline from his No 8 Evan Roos, who gave away some needless penalties last week. With Fourie out, and given he was covering hooker last week, there is a return to the reserve bench for JJ Kotze.
“We obviously would like to finish as high on the standings as possible and take some winning momentum into the play-offs, but there are also some rotations to our team as we look to build maximum capacity ahead of the knock-outs,” said Dobson in explaining his selections.
“There were some lessons we took from our draw in Belfast last week, and we know it will take a big effort to get the better of what will be a desperate Cardiff team.
"Although we have already secured a home quarterfinal, there is plenty to play for, and everyone is excited to meet the challenge at Cardiff Arms Park,” he added.
DHL Stormers team: Damian Willemse, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Wandisile Simelane, Jonathan Roche, Leolin Zas, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Imad Khan, Evan Roos, Ben-Jason Dixon, Paul de Villiers, Ruben van Heerden, Adré Smith, Neethling Fouché (captain), André-Hugo Venter, Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: JJ Kotzé, Oli Kebble, Zachary Porthen, Salmaan Moerat, Marcel Theunissen, Keke Morabe, Stefan Ungerer, Jurie Matthee.