The return to fitness of the gifted Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has given the DHL Stormers backs a more stable, conventional look for Saturday night’s fifth round Vodacom United Rugby Championship showdown with Munster at Thomond Park in Limerick.
Mngomezulu, man of the match in the first two games of the season played on South African soil, was out with a minor injury when the Stormers played Benetton in Treviso last week. That meant that Ruhan Nel, normally an outside centre, had to make his own return from injury at inside centre, with Ben Loader, who has played most of his rugby on the wing, slotting in as Nel’s partner in the midfield.
It wasn’t where they lost the game but somehow the midfield pairing did have an incongruous look to it, and with Loader going back to wing for the repeat of last year’s final in Cape Town, the various players are at least playing in positions we are more used to seeing them play. And coach John Dobson appears in agreement that the backline does now have a much better look to it.
“What we had before wasn’t ideal so to have Sacha back does give a more balanced look to the backline,” said Dobson.
Your DHL Stormers team to take on Munster at Thomond Park on Saturday night.
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PORTER TO CALL THE LINEOUTS
There’s also been a quite significant switch in the pack, with Gary Porter coming in as the No 5 lock, his usual position when he does play, and Ruben van Heerden back in the No 4 jersey he wore last season and before that for the Sharks. Sti Sithole, back in the Cape after starting his career with Western Province but then moving to the Lions for a few years, gets to start at loosehead for the first time since his return.
Joseph Dweba is back as the starting hooker after Scarra Ntubeni played there last week and did well, while Willie Engelbrecht comes in at openside flank for Marcel Theunissen in another change to the side that lost 20-17 in Treviso.
Keke Morabe is the looseforward cover on a bench which has been reverted by coach John Dobson to a more conventional five/three split between forwards and backs as opposed to the Bomb Squad 6/2 split of last week and the game against Glasgow Warriors.
“The reversion to 5/3 is because as you know Sacha has had that injury issue so we needed an extra back to cover. The change at hooker is purely rotational, we decided to give Joseph a chance to start but we felt Scarra played well last week. The change at lock is about getting impact off the bench, which we will get when Adre comes on.
“We’ve backed Willie at openside flank as he is an abrasive type of player who is a good ball carrier and we felt that Irish teams tend to negate the classic type of opensider. So while that one is largely rotational, it also has a tactical edge to it,” added the Stormers coach.
Dobson said that the switch of Van Heerden back to the No 4 jersey did not mean that the plan to turn him into a No 5 and lineout caller had been abandoned.
“During the game Adre will come on and then Ruben will swop out and take over the lineout calling. We didn’t go with this second row combination last week against Benetton precisely because our lineout had been poor against Glasgow and we didn’t want it to appear we were reacting to that. Ruben is still in our plans as our lineout leader going forward.”
COACH PAYS TRIBUTE TO HALF CENTURION ZAS
Wing Leolin Zas will play his landmark 50th game in the Stormers jersey in Limerick and Dobson paid tribute to a player who has had to overcome significant adversity in the form of a potentially career ending injury sustained in 2018.
“After that injury a lot of people thought Zassie would never be the same player again as he does rely a lot on his pace and sometimes those big knee ligament injuries can rob you of your pace and explosiveness,” said Dobson.
“He went to the Sharks after he recovered from his injury following the operation and didn’t quite make it there and then came back to us where he also didn’t initially make it. But then in that first URC season he started to play really good rugby again.
“I was a little concerned going into last season that maybe he wouldn’t be able to back up and that the first season might have been a bit of a flash in the pan but he has confirmed now that he is properly back and playing really good rugby. After what he has been through I am really pleased that he is able to celebrate his 50th game for us. It didn’t look likely he’d get there a few years back.”
What a journey it has been for Leolin Zas who will reach his DHL Stormers 50 in Limerick this weekend. #iamastormer #dhldelivers #ZasVegas #AreYouZas pic.twitter.com/NpMfUjWtxt
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GOING ALL OUT FOR THE WIN
Dobson said his men were primed to go out and win even though ideally they would have preferred to win last week against Benetton, in which case a positive result against the team that beat them in last season’s final would have been less of an overriding imperative.
“We have a tough tour and two wins on tour was what we set our sights on so losing a game last week against Benetton which we really should have won, which we threw away to be honest, has put us under pressure. Thomond Park is a tough place to go and Munster have brought their Irish internationals back but we felt we let ourselves down last week and would like to make up for that by being more accurate in several departments, particularly our kicking game.
“Limerick is a tough place to win but we will go all out to get maximum points,” he added.
DHL Stormers team: Warrick Gelant, Ben Loader, Ruhan Nel, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Leolin Zas, Jean-Luc du Plessis, Paul de Wet, Evan Roos, Ben-Jason Dixon, Willie Engelbrecht, Gary Porter, Ruben van Heerden, Neethling Fouche (captain), Joseph Dweba, Sti Sithole.
Replacements: Andre-Hugo Venter, Ali Vermaak, Brok Harris, Adre Smith, Keke Morabe, Herschel Jantjies, Clayton Blommetjies, Angelo Davids.