Ulster have lost some key players to injury recently and have suffered another triple blow since their fine 29-12 EPCR Challenge Cup semifinal win over Exeter Chiefs but they do retain one significant figure that the DHL Stormers will be wary of when the team’s clash on Friday.
The Stormers will be going all out to win their penultimate Vodacom URC league match of the season at the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast as that would be a needed and significant step in their quest to finish top of the log in the cross hemisphere competition for the first time.
Ulster in turn need to win as they need to retain their top eight spot (they currently lie eighth) as that would be their only route into next season’s Investec Champions Cup if they don’t win the Challenge Cup final against French club Montpellier in Bilbao.
Ulster do have that other option though, with the winner of the Challenge Cup getting automatic entry into the Champions Cup, and their bid for their first silverware since 2006 might not have been on now were it not for the contribution made by Juarno Augustus against Exeter.
Often when it comes to determining the man of the match it is a close call, but Augustus getting the official award would have been a certainty long before the final whistle last Saturday such was his commanding presence as the Ulster No 8.
SOUNDED LOUD WARNING
Apart from scoring a try of his own he was close to scoring several others and his strength as a ball carrier would have sent out a loud warning to the Stormers, the team he represented for the first part of his professional career after winning the World Junior Player of the Year award for his exploits for the Junior Boks.
Augustus, known as ‘Trokkie’ by both his teammates and his supporters in South Africa, left Cape Town to play for the Northampton Saints in 2000, and has subsequently moved to Ulster, for whom he has scored three tries in 15 appearances.
He hasn’t always started and Ulster do have good loose-forwards on their books but after his all-round performance against the Chiefs he will be certain to start against his old team and Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani has acknowledged that his men do see their old teammate as a significant threat.
“I coached Trokkie a couple of years ago (both at the Stormers and when he was playing for Western Province under-19) and he is a good person and a fine player and one I know really well,” said Hlungwani.
“He has got married and started a family since I last saw him so I am sure he’s grown even more as a human since I last saw him. We are looking forward to seeing him when we get to Belfast, but we are also aware of the threat he poses. He has added an extra layer to Ulster’s attack just like he did for Northampton over the past few years.”
SO STRONG IN TAKING THE BALL TO THE GAINLINE AND BEYOND
Augustus’ ability to take the ball up to the gainline and beyond it is what makes him so influential for the teams he plays for.
“He gives them go forward ball as he is such a strong ball carrier and that go forward ball is very important to their game,” said Hlungwani.
Augustus tended to be on and off when he played for the Stormers. There were times he was a little anonymous, and on those occasions his work ethic was questioned, but when he was in the mood he was capable of almost carrying the entire team on his shoulders.
Since moving overseas he appears to have become more consistent with his delivery, and it was why Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus called him up to a national camp last year.
That was after Augustus had played a big role in getting the Saints to the Investec Champions Cup final, where they lost to current champions Bordeaux-Begles.
Unfortunately Augustus’ drive for Bok honours was hampered by injury and his star appears to have waned a bit for he was not among the players invited to an alignment camp of overseas based players earlier in the year.
However, there is no better time to impress than when the semifinals of any competition arrive, and Augustus did that in spades last week. He was head and shoulders above any other player on the Kingspan Stadium field and he will be aiming to do that again against his old teammates on Friday.
STORMERS BACK THEMSELVES TO MATCH HIS POWER
However, as Hlungwani pointed out, the Stormers are a very different team to Exeter, and have different strengths and pose different threats. They also have more stopping power than most teams.
“For us, it’s about making sure we handle his power. We feel we’ve got players with good stopping power and carrying ability to match his and hopefully neutralise him.”
Indeed, given how good the Stormers were at stopping the Glasgow maul last time out, they should be backing themselves, and seeing it was his stopping ability that got him into the match 23 for that game, it will be interesting to see if Keke Morabe has a role to play.
Stopping ability becomes even more important on a 4G pitch like the one at Kingspan as it is very difficult to stop momentum on those surfaces once a team makes the initial breach of the opposing defence.
The Stormers team for Friday night’s game will be announced on Thursday.