DHL Stormers defence coach Norman Laker said he saw England’s mercurial flyhalf Marcus Smith as his team’s big threat in Saturday’s Investec Champions Cup clash at the Stoop, but he reckons the Cape side has an advantage when it comes to preparing for unpredictable players.
When Laker spoke about Smith, who has become ensconced as the starting No 10 at England in the year since Owen Farrell retired from international rugby and England coach moved away from George Ford as his pivot, it was easy to imagine he was talking about the Stormers’ own now injured Manie Libbok.
“He’s a very good player but he sometimes doesn’t know himself what he’s going to do so that can present you with opportunities,” said Laker.
Libbok, stretchered from the field in the 24-14 loss to Toulon in Gqeberha last night with what looked like severe concussion, has been a little bit too unpredictable for the Stormers’ own good this season. He made mistakes that contributed to all three of the Toulon tries, and although he rounded off and created what would have been the winning try against the Hollywoodbets Sharks had it not been for the mistake he made near the genesis of the attack, he also made costly mistakes in Durban in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby.
Fullback Warrick Gelant can be equally as frustrating with his ability to switch in an instant between brilliant and horrible, usually the latter part coming when he over-plays, so it was interesting to hear what Laker’s response might be when the question was put to him - does having that kind of player in your ranks help you prepare for a player like Smith?
His answer came out as an emphatic yes.
“We are fortunate in that we have guys like Warrick, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Manie and Jean-Luc du Plessis training with us all the time at the High Performance Centre in Belville,” said Laker.
“Those are four quality players but at times they don’t know what they are going to do next. Marcus is the same so I think that is good preparation for facing him. Marcus can put anyone in a hole or make something out of nothing. He won't be someone new either because a lot of our players have played against him at international level as well. But with his style of play, if you put him under pressure, he can make one or two mistakes.”
In other words he can be a weak link, just like Libbok in particular can be, and the Stormers will be trying to apply the pressure that will create the situation where Smith’s weak points can be exposed. It is something they did effectively for a time when they went under-strength to Leicester Tigers last year and came up against Springbok World Cup winning flyhalf Handre Pollard.
The former Western Province junior player and Vodacom Bulls star came right in the second half and won the man of the match award, and of course Pollard is also a very different kind of player to Smith. But the Stormers second stringers made it a competitive game, and the fact that they will be going under-strength again should not be seen as an indication that the Stormers will lack competitiveness and aren’t going to London without the intention of trying to win the game.
But the focus on potential Smith weak points is not an indication that the Stormers don’t rate him as a threat. The opposite would be true, just as would be the case for opposition teams who are preparing to play the Stormers when Libbok is in the team.
“It’s tough to know what he’s going to do if he doesn’t know himself what he’s going to do. We have played against him twice. First when we played the British and Irish Lions in a tour game (at DHL Stadium in 2021) and then when we played Harlequins (in a round of 16 Champions Cup clash) two seasons ago. We know he’s a quality player and when things work for him he gives his team a lot of momentum that is hard to stop.”