Stormers face dilemma over their plan for La Rochelle

Stormers face dilemma over their plan for La Rochelle

Given the standing of their opponents as double and reigning European champions, perhaps more of a fuss should have been made of the DHL Stormers’ last gasp win over La Rochelle in their second pool game in the Investec Champions Cup.

Sometimes being there and seeing in the flesh is believing, and that is certainly the case with the French outfit. Watch them on television and it just doesn’t feel like you pick up the size of the La Rochelle players like you do when you are at the game. Certainly watching the DHL Stadium game in mid-December from the press box, that was the effect - the visiting players looked massive.

And in the early part of the game, before the Stormers, aided on the day by the stifling heat that maybe in May or June would have been okay for La Rochelle but not in a month where it was winter for them back home, fought back, the difference in physical presence was matched by performance.

It was a brave effort for the Stormers to hang in like they did in the first half when it appeared that the big La Rochelle forwards had all the momentum, and winning against the best side in Europe should have gone down as a famous victory.

COMPETITION MAY BE CATCHING ON MORE

Yet South Africans are taking time to click into the gravitas of the Champions Cup, which according to most players who have travelled during their careers is the top club/provincial competition in the world. That was indicated by just 11 000 pitching for that game, which was only a fraction of the attendance for the following weekend’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby against the Vodacom Bulls.

Maybe it’s a bit different now. There was a much bigger crowd for the next home Champions Cup game against the Sale Sharks, and the emotion of the Stormers’ late win in the final pool game against Stade Francais in Paris would have attracted attention. By all accounts, Saturday’s round of 16 tie is going to be well supported and a huge occasion for Cape rugby.

As the Stormers’ star player Damian Willemse reminded us this week, both teams have advanced from where they were in mid-December.

“In December when we played them before they were a different team, it was early in the season,” said Willemse.

“We (the Stormers Springboks) had just come back from the Rugby World Cup, and La Rochelle have scored some big wins since then. We have also picked up winning form since then, and even after the loss at Loftus we have re-established a winning habit. It is going to be a game of test level intensity. It is a knock-out game this time, they will be a big challenge but we will take it on.”

SELECTION DILEMMAS

As always has seemed the case just recently, at least in the positions away from loosehead prop, Stormers director of rugby John Dobson faces several selection dilemmas. But he may have started the week facing an even bigger dilemma on how to take La Rochelle on.

Although the Stormers won the pool game, Dobson admitted afterwards that his team played completely contrary to the agreed plan. The intent was to move the big La Rochelle forwards around and hit their opponents with the flair of the Stormers backs and transition play. But the Stormers got sucked into a testosterone driven arm-wrestle.

Dobson felt that made it harder for this team, and yet they did win the game. What does he do this time? Saturday will provide the answer, but if you ignore the possibility that the war of attrition against Ulster last weekend might have taken a bit out of the players physically, the last two games have arguably been the perfect buildup.

Certainly against Ulster the Stormers got a taste of the kind of pressure they may have to withstand during a first half where it felt like the home team hardly got their hands on the ball.

“Tonight will be very helpful for next week. It will be a different size of animal coming,” said Dobson with what can be described as more than just a touch of classic understatement.

“Selection will be a problem, fitting all these guys in. It’s a chicken and egg situation, do you choose to stop La Rochelle, by picking your most physical guys, or do you think you can break them open, which might require something else?”

In other words, does he start with the flair of Hacjivah Dayimani, or go for the grunt and unbelievable workrate of Ben-Jason Dixon at blindside flank. Does he again back the defensive nous of Dan du Plessis at outside centre, or does he instead go for the X-factor of Wandesile Simelane?

IMAGINE IF CAPE TEAM CONVERTS ALL OPPORTUNITIES

The thing about the Stormers is that they do appear capable of just about anything on their day - they’ve won all but one of the games they’ve played since their opening defeat in the Champions Cup to Leicester Tigers on 8 December, and yet in almost all of them there has been dissatisfaction at the team’s inability to make a complete fist of try scoring opportunities.

“At least we were playing Stormers rugby in the second half (against Ulster). It’s just frustrating to leave so many tries out there. It happened against the Bulls and against Edinburgh and again tonight. It is very frustrating.”

In truth very few teams are clinical enough to capitalise on every scoring opportunity, but what happens on the day the Stormers do click and convert the many opportunities they are creating? For Willemse, the difference in the type of rugby that was required against Edinburgh and Ulster might be helpful.

“If you look at the two games, they were both completely different games,” said the Springbok World Cup winner.

“The Edinburgh game did get very loose and we had an opportunity to express ourselves. We were able to play to our strengths. Against Ulster they had all the possession and put us under intense pressure in the first half before we reversed it in the second. They were two contrasting games. If you look at the last two weekends I’d say we are happy to have played both games.”