The DHL Stormers leave for France on Tuesday night but at a post-departure press conference they did not give anything away when it came to who may be facing Toulon in their Investec Champions Cup round of 16 clash on Saturday.
Apart from assistant coach Rito Hlungwani acknowledging that promising young scrumhalf Imad Khan is part of the group, there is no other indication of who will be on the plane among the playing group.
Although it would be a fair bet that Hacjivah Dayimani will be there as he spoke about how excited he was to be returning to France to play a team he has played a few times before and includes players he knows well from his time at Racing 92.
Stormers director of rugby John Dobson did say though after his team’s 33-14 win 14th round Vodacom URC win over Edinburgh that he will be going full strength, which means that if as scheduled Cobus Reinach, the Springbok scrumhalf, is fit to play, he will probably be part of the group and will either start in the No 9 jersey or play off the bench.
“Cobus and Seabelo (Senatla) are running around,” was all Hlungwani would say, with Senatla having missed the Edinburgh game because of injury.
The Stormers were beaten by Toulon in a group stage meeting in their only previous meeting with the prestigious French club, but these are different times for Toulon.
In that game it was near the start of the season and Toulon went all out, as they did this year in the initial stages of the Champions Cup.
However, the French attitude to a European game when their teams get to this stage of the season often hinges on where they are placed in the Top 14.
There is a brutal promotion-relegation system in place in the French league, with two teams automatically relegated at the end of the season, and those teams close to the relegation zone often focus on survival in their bread and butter competition.
And when it comes to the promotion-relegation zone, the proud Toulon club couldn’t be closer to it than they are currently - they lie 11th and are on a long losing streak.
Given their position in the Top 14, there could even be doubt if they will field their top team at Stade Mayol, although given it is a home game for them it is likely that they probably will.
'WON'T BE UNDERESTIMATING TOULON'
Regardless, the Stormers are happy to keep Toulon guessing, and are preparing for a tough game on Saturday against what they assume will be the top Toulon team.
“I wouldn’t say it is tactical, it is more just that everyone else does it (holds back squad announcements) so we do it,” said Hlungwani.
Startling though it may seem to those who understand how desperately the professional level of the sport below international needs to be sold, it is quite mind boggling that there is an EPCR protocol in place that prevents team being announced until the day before the game.
But it is what it is, so rugby fans who may be weighing up other entertainment options for Easter Saturday won’t know whether they are seeing two full strength teams playing each other until Good Friday.
If Toulon are at full strength, the Stormers will have some classy opponents to contend with, among them England starting prop Kyle Sinckler, the Cape educated former England lock David Ribbans, who was excellent in Gqeberha last year, and the scrumhalf Baptiste Cerin.
The last mentioned isn’t of course France’s first choice scrumhalf, that is Antoine Dupont, but Hlungwani hasn’t forgotten the influence the Toulon halfback had on the game when Toulon won 23-13 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in late 2024.
“We remember how he punished us in PE last season so we have learnt a lot about him and studied him closely,” said Hlungwani.
“If he doesn’t play in this game it will be great for us. They have a lot of strong points in terms of players. So we are not going to target one player although obviously we know Kyle Sinckler, who is a world class scrummager, and Dave Ribbans came through our system.
“We are not treating this game differently from any other, we are treating it as another game we want to win. So we will have the same approach we have for the other (URC) games and we will go out there to give it our best shot. We will definitely not be underestimating Toulon.”
Of course they shouldn’t, not when Toulon are at home at the Stade Mayol, and there were stages of their win over what was effectively a La Rochelle youth team in December where the Stormers got a taste of the reality that even an under-strength French side can be tough opponents.
Much more so when playing with their passionate fans behind them.