The recent experiences of the DHL Stormers have highlighted the beauty of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in terms of the highly competitive nature of the competition. In the sense that they have now lost three games in succession, and yet their log position is slightly better than when the sequence started.
They got no points out of their visit to Leinster in late January, two bonus points out of their home defeat to the Vodacom Bulls and then one last gasp losing bonus point in their most recent defeat to the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg. Those three points in defeat have kept their quest for a top eight finish alive, as it means they are just three points behind eighth placed Scarlets with seven matches to play.
One week closer to finding out who will make the #VURC play-offs 👀 pic.twitter.com/8UKNLr7Q2c
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) February 17, 2025
One of the matches still to come will be against Scarlets in Llanelli at the end of March, and they also play another team hovering around them in the battle for a top eight finish which signifies playoff qualification, Ulster, on that same trip. They then come home for a sequence of four games at DHL Stadium to finish the season, and most of those are against teams that are either currently just ahead of them on the log or are also challenging for top eight - Benetton, Cardiff and Connacht.
STARS MAY COME BACK TO LATE TO SAVE THEM
The Stormers will hope to have their bevy of wounded top players, mostly backline at this point, back by then, so there is reason to be optimistic. We have yet to see what the Stormers can do with Manie Libbok, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Damian Willemse and Suleiman Hartzenberg (let’s not underestimate his absence) on the field. Actually, you can add in Ruhan Nel too - Wandisile Simelane is a potent attacking threat but his defending in the wide channels remains questionable.
Defeat in Joburg despite second half fight back. #LIOvSTO @Vodacom #URC #OriginRound pic.twitter.com/iz2vkExK8a
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) February 15, 2025
Throw in JD Schickerling, who should also be back by the second half of April, which is when the closing sequence of home matches will be played, and there’s reason to feel the Stormers can finish the season with a flourish.
Unfortunately for them though that might be too late, and their director of rugby was on the money when after the 30-23 defeat to an admittedly very impressive Lions team he spoke about his team’s next fixture, the return north/south derby at Loftus in a fortnight, as a potential last chance saloon for his team.
“We had to win two matches in this current phase of four away matches as we have a nice home run after that that should get us enough points, but unfortunately not winning today puts us in a position where we must win two of our next three,” said Dobson.
“Our European record is poor and Loftus is tough. We pretty much have to win in Pretoria to stay alive, that is what I feel. And that’s easier said than done.”
SHARKS SHOWED YOU CAN WIN WITH PLAYERS OUT
Injuries have plagued the Stormers’ season but when Dobson was speaking it was just before the Sharks kicked off their game against the Bulls in Pretoria. The Sharks had even more players out for that game than the Stormers have out currently (with the exception of Schickerling all the injuries are at the back) and yet they won, so it underlines the point that injuries can’t really be used as an excuse.
All systems go! #LIOvSTO @Vodacom #URC #OriginRound pic.twitter.com/6JbqonuOXl
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) February 15, 2025
And as he rightly points out, dwelling on misfortune won’t help the Stormers out of their current plight, which sees them sitting with a URC record that reads played 11, won four and lost seven.
“The reality is it’s the same team that played last week, the same team that played this week, and probably the same team will play at Loftus. None of our big names are back,” he said.
So what the Stormers will have to rely on against the Bulls is what nearly got them home in the DHL Stadium derby two weeks ago - their fight, which was writ large in the way they came back from an 18 point halftime deficit to clinch that potentially crucial bonus point.
“The truth is we’re fighters, we fought today, we fight every game – last week we fought, we just have to be more accurate. We’re the Stormers, we have to fight for the people of Cape Town,” Dobson said.
What won’t help the Stormers though is too much dwelling on that type of hype. After the loss to the Bulls in Cape Town there was an air at the post match press conference of celebrating a one point defeat, there was talk of it starting momentum, which of course is nonsense. The Sharks showed at Loftus that the Bulls are beatable, and even without Libbok etc they should have been expected to win at home against a Bulls team that was also depleted.
Dobson is right about the need to be more accurate. But he will also know that he’s said it so often that he could probably get away with taping his press conferences before the games even take place. For they invariably end up saying the same thing.
The Stormers may have a slight advantage on the Bulls in the sense that they have a break this week whereas the Bulls will be playing a third tough derby in as many weeks when they host the Lions. That extra week though may be a godsend to the Stormers.
“Next week is a slightly down week but we will train. We can’t get off, we don’t deserve off. We’ve got plans to make for the Bulls.”