If last season was a fairytale for the DHL Stormers, the current one has confirmed the Cape franchise as a major player going forward - provided rugby in the region doesn’t become mired again in the internecine strife at board room level that so long kept it back.
The Stormers might not go on to retain their Vodacom United Rugby Championship trophy, but their growth can be measured by the changed expectations. While just 12 months ago getting into the top eight to make the play-offs, and perhaps more particularly the frame for Heineken Championship qualification, was the main goal, that’s hardly been mentioned this year.
This season the Stormers have managed to reach the target they set themselves last year at a canter. With three games to play in the league phase of the URC, the Stormers have already achieved one of their primary goals of 2022/2023, which is the retention of the South African Shield trophy that they won as a prelude to clinching the main event last year.
Wind the clock back a year and those who were there will remember the Vodacom Bulls director of rugby Jake White telling a press conference at the DHL Stadium, after his team had lost a north/south derby, that the Stormers needed to make a fuss of the Shield because they didn’t win trophies. They needed one. Well now they’ve managed three if you add a second Shield to the URC title itself.
More than that, they have completed a clean sweep of wins in derby matches against the other South African franchises. If winning home and away against the Bulls, the Cell C Sharks and the Emirates Lions doesn’t underline their superiority locally, then nothing will.
DOBSON AND OBERHOLZER DESERVE PRAISE
That they have overturned the pecking order in South African rugby has to be attributed to John Dobson and his coaching team, plus the streamlining of the whole rugby business ushered in by the arrival of Rian Oberholzer as the administrator put in place by the South African Rugby Union when Western Province was placed under administration.
By all accounts, what used to take weeks to be enacted at the Stormers because of the bureaucratic hoops that had to be jumped through, now takes days. When the Stormers needed a lock, Dobson phoned Oberholzer and told him Ruben van Heerden was available. Oberholzer found the money and the deal was done.
The team culture built up by Dobson at the Stormers is the platform for their success and it is also starting to become a draw for players to want to come to the Cape. It hasn’t been announced yet, but Van Heerden was initially signed on for a short term deal but after just a few weeks at the Stormers he decided he wanted more and is now set for a long term contract.
TREPIDATION AT THE START
All of this wasn’t necessarily predictable back at the start of the season, when there was some trepidation over the expectations that had been built up around the Stormers yet still a realistic view of the challenge going forward. Last year’s URC was played without the added commitment of the Champions Cup. Did the Stormers have the depth to play in both?
Analogies involving the English Premier League in the round ball game are pertinent when understanding the fears. Like the Stormers, Leicester City produced a fabled fairytale season that saw them win the league against all expectations back in 2016. The following season the burden of being champions proved too much and they struggled to preserve their place in the top flight.
The Stormers do not currently have the financial muscle of the Sharks and the Bulls. They are more West Ham than Manchester City or even Liverpool. After making it into Europe last season, West Ham have struggled with the balancing act of having to preserve that status by doing well in the league and compete in Europe.
The Stormers have had no such problems this season. They haven’t done a Leicester City. Neither have they done a West Ham. The hope was that they’d be competitive. They’ve done more than that. And much of that is down to the success of Dobson’s quest to improve his squad depth, something that required some bravery in the early part of the season.
SUCCESSFULLY SPREAD THE NET
After eight games, the Stormers had used more players than any other team in the URC. That wasn’t because Dobson didn’t know what his best team was, but because he wanted to spread the net. There were several games where those of us who watch or write about it probably looked at the Stormers selection and thought “Hoo boy, they're throwing this one.”
It certainly felt like that when they hosted the Scarlets with what looked almost like a C team. Yet they won comfortably and the fringe players fitted seamlessly into the system. That’s what the Stormers have got right and the Sharks haven’t - the Stormers are also missing several key players when the Springboks are rested, but with the Cape side it is far less noticeable.
There’ve been some setbacks. But most of those setbacks have been absorbed as learnings. Defeat as a learning isn’t a cliche when used by the Stormers. They’ve also arguably dropped a few games they shouldn’t have. They scored four tries to two when they lost to Cardiff, thus breaking a long unbeaten sequence. Had they shown more composure, and waited one more phase before trying the Manie Libbok drop attempt, they would probably have beaten Swansea on a particularly inclement night in Swansea rather than drawing.
They showed some naivety in losing to a good Glasgow Warriors team that appears to have aped the Stormers’ playing style at the Scotstoun in early January. But the loss happened off the last move of the game, and the Stormers should have felt disappointed to lose a game they should have won. With just a bit of luck, the second placed Stormers would be much closer to log leaders Leinster than they currently are.
A PLAN THAT WORKED
The Ulster defeat - 35-5 - was by far their biggest reverse in the last two years. But that needs to be seen in context. Dobson was targeting the following week’s game against the Sharks. Not only did the Stormers travel to Belfast without their Boks, they went without the bulk of their usual team so as to avoid the travel impact ahead of the important derby. It worked for the Stormers, with the Cape side winning comfortably on a particularly humid day at HollywoodBets Kings Park.
The other Stormers defeat was their first Champions Cup fixture, away against Clermont. Yet far from being a blow to morale, the fact they led at halftime at a team that has a notoriety for being inhospitable to visiting teams, they actually drew confidence.
There are some tough games ahead for the Stormers. The next two in particular, with Leinster lying in wait in Dublin on 25 March and no doubt determined to prove that they are a better team than the team that usurped them and broke their long hegemony in the competition in its previous guise as the PRO14. And Harlequins will be difficult opponents in the Champions Cup round of 16 game a week later.
Playoff games can also be a lottery, so no-one should be betting their house on the Stormers further cramping their trophy cabinet just yet. But given where they were not that long ago, the way they have fronted in this season as reigning champions has confirmed their status as a side that can challenge to be at the top table of clubs globally, something that is Dobson’s aim.?With Dobson having signed on for another four years, there shouldn’t be any stopping the Stormers if the current calm at administrative level persists. That, unfortunately, is always a big caveat that needs to be added when you are talking about rugby in the Cape.
It is understood that an equity deal may not be far away, so the Stormers should also soon be able to compete better financially with some of their rivals. Dobson though will be careful of not letting the embracing of money undermine the team ethos that has driven the Stormers’ success.