Stormers to mix and match but Kolisi to lead

The challenge of needing to field two decent teams in two separate matches three days apart means that DHL Stormers coach John Dobson will be mixing and matching his selections this weekend but Siya Kolisi will definitely be leading the side that plays on Vodacom Super Hero Sunday.

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The Stormers are due to meet the Isuzu Southern Kings in one warm-up match at Loerie Park in Knysna on Friday night before travelling to Johannesburg for the FNB Stadium clash with the Cell C Sharks in the early match of Super Hero Day. The Springbok World Cup winning captain will lead the side in Soweto, but some of his teammates from the triumph in Japan will be playing in Friday night’s match instead.

“Siya will definitely lead the team in Marvel day, but someone like Frans Malherbe, who is not known as a champion of high speed rugby on the highveld, who let’s put it this way is definitely not a gazelle, may be better suited to the Knysna game,” said Dobson.

“I have to take a responsible approach. I gave the Boks quite a bit of time off after the World Cup. Siya asked to fall in early, so he is ready for a high speed game at 1pm in January on the highveld. With someone like Frans, and some of the other players in our squad, there would be an element of risk in playing them in a fast speed game. We need to be clever in the way we reintegrate them.”

The team that plays on Sunday will be stronger than the one that plays on Friday, but Dobson said there would be an element of mix-and-match in the selection that will be announced on Thursday.

“There will be Boks going to the Kings game. We need to be fair to Knysna and the Kings, and to the integration of those players,” said the coach.

“I have said before that the earlier start to the new Super Rugby season has been a bit of a frustration when it comes to the pre-season and planning. It’s a bit of a challenge to the usual South African rugby culture. Players like to spend time with families over the Christmas and New Year period. To expect them to come back straight after New Year and then accelerate very fast at the Calabash is difficult and perhaps risky.”

Dobson is confident though that all his top players will be ready for the high intensity and fast paced start to the season that will be anticipated when the Hurricanes come to Newlands for the start of Super Rugby.

Most of the players who were struggling with long term injuries last year, such as Johan du Toit and Jaco Coetzee, are back in the thick of it, although there are still a few who are touch and go for the tournament opener.

“JD Schickerling and Cobus Wiese are still not training but we are expecting at least one of them to be back in time to be in selection consideration for the Hurricanes game,” said Dobson.

Inside centre Dan du Plessis is one player who definitely won’t be back by then, so with Damian de Allende having left the franchise it is good news for Stormers fans that plans for British and Irish Lions centre Jamie Roberts to arrive as a reinforcement are now well advanced.

An announcement is still expected this week, and Roberts might even be in the Cape before the end of the week, with the only question mark being whether he may have to return to England for what would be an important English Premiership match against Leicester Tigers for his current club team Bath.

Bath are understood to have agreed to the Welshman’s early release - he was initially heading to the Crusaders - but are involved in a relegation battle at the bottom of the Premiership log and the Tigers match is an important one in that regard.