The DHL Stormers know they are up against it in their Vodacom URC semifinal against an international strength Leinster team that hardly ever loses at the AVIVA Stadium but their leadership group is convinced they have a chance of taking their campaign all the way to the final.
The injuries to Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Seabelo Senatla in last week’s 44-21 win over Cardiff in the DHL Stadium quarterfinal were a big blow and even more so the setback of having lock Ruben van Heerden ruled out late in the week after he’d flown to Dublin with the squad in the hope of playing.
But the Stormers are emboldened by the knowledge that they’ve won games against the odds before when they’ve lost players to injury and that everyone in the match day 23 for the Leinster game has played well when called upon.
“I said it at the time, last week’s game was a very expensive one for us in terms of injury and we were very sorry to lose Seabelo, but Wandisile Simelane, who replaces him on the wing, has now played a lot of rugby for us and he has played a few times on the wing,” said Stormers director of rugby John Dobson from the team’s base in Dublin.
“Jurie (Matthee) is self-explanatory. He has played a lot for us at flyhalf now and he has won big games for us. We didn’t expect to lose both JD (Schickerling) and Ruben (van Heerden), but this is a big opportunity for Connor (Evans), who we will be expecting a lot from going forward. We know we are playing a really formidable, international strength team, and it is hard to find a player in the Leinster team that hasn’t played for Ireland. They have a French international on the bench and Rieko Ioane is an All Black.
“I said to the team this morning that we were all so desperate not to lose last week (against Cardiff), as that would have been a horrible way for what we feel has been a good season for us to end. We just wanted to be in the semifinal and then see what happens from there, but Ruhan (Nel) and the guys have decided to go for it, in fact more than go for it. We really believe we can do it.
“We have for a long time wanted to play a full strength Leinster team at the AVIVA and now that is happening for us tomorrow,” he added.
RUHAN CONFIDENT THE TEAM IS PRIMED TO MAKE MASSIVE STATEMENT
Nel endorsed Dobson’s view and said he had no doubt that if they produced their best performance his team could make the massive statement that would come from beating Leinster at their Dublin fortress.
“We are not just here to compete, we are here to win. The energy is good and there is a huge level of desperation. There are four quality sides in the semifinals and we feel anything can happen,” said Nel.
“We are not here just to take part. We know we can also play in a final, we are capable of doing it, and you are wrong if you think we have come here just to take part. Yes, the injuries have brought an element of disruption, but during the season you form combinations and the guys have all played together plenty this season.
“As Dobbo has said, we’ve had a good season and the guys who have played have taken their opportunities and that builds confidence. The guys coming in have done well all season and we are very positive about them. We are unlucky not to have some of the other guys who are injured but that doesn’t undermine our confidence. We have the systems in place, we’ve done the planning.”
SEE IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY
Dobson further emphasised the game’s standing as an opportunity for the Stormers to measure their progress down the road to his goal of the Cape side sitting at the top table of European and world club rugby.
“Given they are pretty match an international team in all but name we know that a game against Leinster will present a much higher level of intensity than we have experienced all season,” said Dobson.
“We have made some big statement wins this season. We were written off when we went to the Bulls in Pretoria and won comfortably. There was the big home win over Glasgow and then some wins away, such as against Munster at Thomond Park, where we made massive statements. We lost to Cardiff on 4G in our last overseas game but before that we were unbeaten and that gives us massive confidence.
“We are under no illusions though about what we are facing on Saturday. They didn’t win the European final but the way Leinster marched Bordeaux back a few times with their phase play was very impressive and a warning to us. But if we can get this job done with JD (Schickerling) not there, with Ruben not there, with Cobus (Reinach) not there, with Seabelo not there, with Frans (Malherbe) not there, then we can say we are at the top table already in terms of our plan.”
Carrying all of you with us in Dublin this weekend. We know what this means and who we are playing for.
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) June 5, 2026
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ACKERMANN AND GELANT HAVE CRUCIAL ROLES TO PLAY FROM BENCH
One of the players gained to slightly counter-balance the three losses to injury over the last two weeks is the formidable, physical presence of Ruan Ackermann, who Dobson said has a big role to play against Leinster.
“We really wanted him to play longer against Cardiff but unfortunately the injuries prohibited that as with the six/two split on the bench Marcel Theunissen was lined up to be the next option on the wing. But Ruan is an immense player and a master of the dark arts. We have some utility value on the bench and in the starting pack in the sense that we can quite easily move Ben-Jason Dixon into the second row, and BJ is a player who can play 160 minutes if you ask him to.
“So if we are in a situation where we are in the game and we can bring on Salmaan (Moerat) and Ruan for the last 30 minutes I really believe we will be in a position where we can hurt Leinster.”
Utility also brings some space to manoeuvre at the back, with fullback Damian Willemse lined up to make a possible shift to either centre or wing depending on what is required and how the game is going.
“It was half Damian’s idea (when he played three games on the wing) and he could be huge there given the game we want to play, and Warrick (Gelant), despite the criticism he always seems to receive, is also a man for the big occasion so we have no qualms about bringing him on at fullback.
“We did consider starting Warrick at fullback and playing Damian at centre but Dan (du Plessis) at inside centre is very important to our defence, he gets through so much work there that isn’t always recognised, and Leinster do have a very sophisticated attacking system. But the contestable kicking game, or more particularly winning the ball on the ground (after it has been tapped back), has become so much more important in this calendar year, starting with the Six Nations, and we know how important Damian could be in that regard.
“So yes, although it would be an unpopular selection with many, we did think about moving Damian back to wing, and we may well do that if Wandisile struggles there. It’s just that Damian was so brilliant at fullback last week, he really did deliver a world class performance, that we preferred to go for the continuity.”
Bring on the @Vodacom #URC Semi-Final in Dublin.
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) June 5, 2026
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