Stormers aim to dazzle Bay crowd but wary of Dragons

The DHL Stormers are venturing into new territory on Saturday when they play an afternoon home game at 2pm not at their usual home field of DHL Stadium in Cape Town, but 752 kilometres away (thanks Google) at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha.

While initially it looked like a potential curve ball for the Stormers when the deviation was announced, with the choice of venue revolving around their usual home stadium being prepared for the Cape Town Sevens that will be played there the following weekend, John Dobson and his coaching team are regarding it as such. In fact, quite the opposite.

Their appetite for playing in the Eastern Cape was whet when they played the Cell C Sharks in a pre-season friendly at Grey High School. According to Dobson, his team was clearly the one that was most favoured by Gqeberha rugby followers. Which is a trifle surprising because the Sharks once included Border and Eastern Province when Super Rugby was run run on a regional basis.

In fact, a troubling memory for those who go back that far and have the Stormers at heart is of the Sharks pretty much blowing their chances of success in the 1999 edition of Super Rugby by being thrashed by the Hurricanes in East London. The players who played that day will tell you that the venue just not feeling like their home contributed to their poor performance.

EXPECTING GOOD SUPPORT

That’s unlikely to be the experience for the Stormers at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. For what they experienced at Grey High a few months ago though has made the Stormers excited about playing in the city again, and with this level of rugby now a rare occurrence there, they are expecting a big crowd to come out and support them against the Welsh team, the Dragons.

Dobson has told the Gqeberha media that his team will go out to dazzle, and everyone who has seen the Stormers play recently, and remembers the type of rugby they employed en route to the top of the South African Shield last season, knows what they are capable of when they put it together.

And put it together they did do, quite impressively at that, in the first half against the Scarlets last week. But the Stormers will be wary of putting aesthetic too high on their priority list above outcome, for the Dragons were easily the second best Welsh team on view on South African soil last week behind the Cardiff team that thrashed the Sharks.

The anticipated big Emirates Lions win at altitude in Johannesburg wasn’t forthcoming and the Dragons were competitive for most of the way. Former Springbok, Sharks and Stormers No 8 and captain Bob Skinstad said ahead of the arrival of the Welsh teams in South Africa that his former team was the one most likely to cause an upset.

That of course was proved wrong by the Sharks’ implosion in Durban on Sunday, but Skinstad does have a point - on the evidence of what they did in Johannesburg, the Dragons are not going to be easy beats for the Stormers. Remembering too that they were one of the first teams to upset Munster in the initial stages of the season.

STILL SHORN OF BOKS

The Stormers will also again go in with a team shorn of Boks, for Dobson wants to rest those players who require it after the November international tour and ahead of his team’s Champions Cup commitments against Clermont away and London Irish at home.

“We will take who plays in this game on a case by case basis,” said forwards coach Rito Hlungwani earlier in the week. “It will depend on how much game time the players have had.”

A player who did not play much on tour but then got action in the last two weeks was No 8 Evan Roos, who looks unlikely to play because of the rib injury he sustained playing against England at Twickenham. The Stormers are awaiting the results of a scan that will determine how long he will be out for, but it seems unlikely he’ll be ready this week.

Hacjivah Dayimani will then probably continue from No 8 and when it comes to the running rugby imperative, the Stormers won’t lose much because there are few better attacking loose-forwards in the game.

Bok match day front row specialists Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe will almost certainly sit out this week, but flanker Deon Fourie had limited game time on tour and should be included in the mix, be it in the starting team or on the bench. Dobson told us after the Scarlets game that Manie Libbok had already contacted him from overseas to ask to play against the Dragons. According to Dobson, Libbok’s work ethic and commitment to the team he plays for borders on the obsessive, and that just about underlines his point.

Even if he wasn’t available though, Kade Wolhuter deserves another run, either as a starter or off the bench. Dobson is likely to start with Libbok though as Damian Willemse, who played in all the tests the Boks played on their four week tour, does definitely deserve a rest, so his influence will be missing from the crucial 10/12 decision-making axis.

A man who could well make way this week, which just underlines the depth the Stormers suddenly have available, is the man who played so well and captained them so well last week, Ernst van Rhyn. That is because Salmaan Moerat is back in the selection mix and he never played much on tour.

Indeed, a second row partnership between Moerat, who can take over as captain if Van Rhyn is the player he displaces, and newcomer Gary Porter, who is expected to continue as the No 5 lock and lineout caller, is quite an exciting prospect. Of course, the versatile Van Rhyn can also play blindside flank, and given that Dayimani will probably be needed at No 8, that is probably what will happen.