DHL Stormers director of rugby John Dobson was, in his own words, “bitterly disappointed” that his team weren’t able to secure a home Vodacom URC final in a season where they spent much of the campaign in the top two on the log.
But at the same time, he was honest about where it went wrong. The 20-11 defeat to Leinster at the AVIVA Stadium in the semifinal should not be a major focus in any wash-up to the season. What happened in the game shouldn’t be blamed for the failure to add an extra two weeks onto the campaign to play a home final against the Vodacom Bulls. The fact that they were playing the semi in Dublin, and not at DHL Stadium, was where it went wrong.
Had the Stormers hosted Leinster in Cape Town rather than playing at the AVIVA, it might have been Leinster who would have ended it reflecting on 50/50 calls that went against them from the referee and the TMO. That’s just the way rugby works. Indeed, most team sports. It is why so much premium is placed on securing home ground advantage in the knock-outs.
The Bulls did win their away semifinal, but then they’d probably be the first to admit that it would have been a lot harder had they played their game against Glasgow Warriors at Glasgow’s regular home ground of The Scotstoun, where the 4G pitch that South African players hate so much would have been a factor.
FIRST RULE - PLAY KNOCK-OUTS AT HOME
The first rule of playing yourself into a position to win silverware, which the Stormers do aim to do in the next few years, is to ensure the big knock-out games get played at home. For much of the season the Stormers looked likely to do that, only for everything to unravel with their unexpected home defeat to Connacht.
Although it is also true that when the Stormers left for their last two-match overseas tour that concluded the league phase, they were on top of the log by one point. They surrendered that advantage when they drew with Ulster, and then dropped out of the top two when they lost to Cardiff in their final regular-season game.
Of course, they did give it away against Leinster too. Before Ruan Ackemann’s red card, it looked like their heroic defensive effort was set to pay off. As Dobson said afterwards, the cracks that stem from the Stormers’ physical approach were starting to appear for Leinster, and when Ruhan Nel produced a sublime 50/22 to shift the territory battle, pressure was transferred. So there was no excuse for the incident that reduced the Stormers to 14 men and changed the game.
But given how they pushed Leinster and went toe to toe with them over a full 80 minutes, it is not unreasonable to assume they’d have had a great chance of winning had the game been played in Cape Town. With or without Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, their star player who along with his Springbok halfback partner Cobus Reinach wasn’t there because of injury.
COMPETITIVE WITHOUT KEY PLAYERS
That the Stormers pushed Leinster so hard on their home ground and were without key players, wing Seabelo Senatla being another and these days the absent JD Schickerling is arguably their top lock, is one of the reasons that Dobson was able to tell the Irish journalists that the wait for his team to compete effectively across two fronts is nearly over.
“We have made so many strides when it comes to building our squad, something we know we have to do if we want to compete both in the URC and in Europe (the Investec Champions Cup),” said Dobson.
“The difference in the past between Leinster and a team like us is that they have had the depth to field a Leinster A team, meaning a second-string team, against a team like the Ospreys in the URC and expect to win. And then they can play La Rochelle or another top team in the Champions Cup with a full-strength team.
“We didn’t win against Leinster but if you consider how close we came to beating them on their home ground with Frans Malherbe not there, with Oli Kebble not there, with Deon Fourie not there, with Seabelo Senatla not there, without JD (Schickerling) and Ruben van Heerden, and without Cobus Reinach and Sacha, then you can see we are coming close.
“We weren’t a second-string team but we were without a lot of key personnel and that shows we are coming a lot closer to having two squads and that will make us far more competitive and able to go deeper in the Champions Cup. As it was, I thought we were a bit unlucky to lose our away round of 16 game against Toulon (who went on to push Leinster in the semifinal).
“So tonight gives us confidence. We waited a long time to be able to test ourselves away against a full-strength Leinster team and this game was our opportunity. We didn’t take in the sense we didn’t win, but I thought we did really well and were in position to win it with 12 minutes to go. We have some incredible youngsters coming through and we are working towards being at the top table (of club teams in Europe and the world).”
DUBLIN SHOWED PROJECT 2029 IS TRACKING WELL
Dobson said that the depth being developed has given him confidence that next season the trend of going with mix and match teams in Champions Cup games and full strength in the URC when those games are close together can be reversed because it is becoming possible to compete across both fronts.
Indeed, with star reinforcements arriving in the off-season in the form of Wilco Louw, Siya Kolisi and Cheslin Kolbe, and Argentina international lock Thomas Lavanini to offset the regrettable loss of Salmaan Moerat and Ruben van Heerden, and young players set for further growth, the Stormers are tracking well towards Dobson’s aim of having two strong teams.
And on the subject of the loss of Moerat and Van Heerden, young Connor Evans’ feisty performance in the time he was on the field in Dublin should have been another reason the Stormers, once they have digested the disappointment of coming so near and yet so far, should feel emboldened as they head into the off-season.
With Riley Norton included in the next Bok squad there are locks coming through the system in the Cape to soften the loss of Moerat, who the smart money suggests could well be back at the Stormers before 2029 arrives. The Stormers’ environment is such that players tend to look for a return after they’ve done their business overseas.