The match day 23 that DHL Stormers coach John Dobson will announce on Friday for Saturday’s clash with Connacht in Galway will come from the strongest squad that the Cape franchise has as yet had available to it during their current Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign.
* Get DStv to watch all the URC action *
The Stormers did not announce a tour party ahead of their departure for Ireland on Tuesday - yes, they travelled very late, and it is down to budget constraints - but they have released the 26-man squad that arrived in Galway on Wednesday through social media.
As anticipated, star No 8 Evan Roos is with the group in Ireland and is available to play, but we will only know on Friday whether he will start or play off the bench. Hacjivah Dayimani has been in excellent form off the back of the Stormers scrum in Roos’ absence and Dobson is sure to back him to continue if he is not convinced Roos is ready after a lay-off of more than a month to play 80 minutes. In that event, Roos will likely play off the bench.
If he does think Roos is 100 per cent ready to go, however, then the former Sharks age-group star could well be in the starting line-up for while Dayimani has improved the physical aspects of his game, the more combative aspects of Roos’ game could make him a better bet for a northern hemisphere style game.
The weather forecast is predicting wet and windy conditions for the Sportsground on Saturday and that obviously mitigates against the Stormers employing the higher tempo, expansive game they played in South African conditions during the derby phases of the competition at which Dayimani excels.
Roos is not the only star player back in the Stormers mix, with highly rated lock David Meihuizen having already made his return to the field after a long injury lay-off via a Currie Cup game for Western Province and a stint off the Stormers’ bench against the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg. Experienced loosehead prop Ali Vermaak, long the established back-up for Steven Kitshoff until he was injured, is also back in the squad, and so is Neethling Fouche, the rated tighthead who made his return to rugby following the injury-induced break from the first week of December in last Friday’s WP game against Tafel Lager Griquas in Kimberley.
Looseforward Junior Pokomela, an experienced player in Irish conditions after playing in the PRO14 for the Toyota Cheetahs, is also in the extended squad.
Indeed, apart from Springbok tighthead Frans Malherbe, who is running again and is set to make his return to the playing field imminently, lock Salmaan Moerat and centre Rikus Pretorius it is hard to think of any Stormers players who would challenge for starting places that are absent from the 26 that will be whittled down to 23 on match day.
There are some players absent who you might have thought could be there, such as Nama Xaba and Marcel Theunissen, but that can be put down to the greater depth the Stormers suddenly have available to them at looseforward and possibly to the pacy and highly skilled Theunissen’s style of play, which may be better suited to the dry fields of home.
It is also a minor surprise that, given the likely game the Stormers will have to play, Tim Swiel is not there as a back-up flyhalf just in case there’s an injury before kick-off. Should that happen, Damian Willemse will obviously wear the No 10. As it stands, the smart money should be on Willemse playing inside centre alongside Manie Libbok at 10 and with Ruhan Nel at outside.
Dobson did mention after the Lions game that Nel might be due for a rest as he’d played every minute of the derby phase until his late yellow card against the Lions. If he was rested, Dan du Plessis would come in at 13 but that is less likely to happen in Galway than perhaps in one of the games to come after this against overseas teams in Cape Town and Stellenbosch.
DHL Stormers squad: Angelo Davids, Hacjivah Dayimani, Paul de Wet, Ben-Jason Dixon, Dan du Plessis, Neethling Fouche, Deon Fourie, Warrick Gelant, Brok Harris, Herschel Jantjies, Steven Kitshoff (captain), Manie Libbok, David Meihuizen, Ruhan Nel, Scarra Ntubeni, Marvin Orie, Sergeal Petersen, Junior Pokomela, Evan Roos, Sazi Sandi, Seabelo Senatla, Adre Smith, Ernst van Rhyn, Andre-Hugo Venter, Ali Vermaak, Damian Willemse