DHL Stormers coach John Dobson has switched Springbok flyhalf Manie Libbok for a bench role in Saturday’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby against the Hollywoodbets Sharks in Durban.
Libbok was the only Stormers player to tour with the Boks in November due to the injuries that have sidelined Frans Malherbe and Damian Willemse. Another player who missed the tour because of injury, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, will play wear the No 10 jersey at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, with the selection making sense because Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been part of the squad for the last three weeks of preparation.
The Sharks coach John Plumtree has adopted a similar approach in choosing Siya Masuku to play pivot ahead of Jordan Hendrikse, who delivered a good performance for the Boks against Wales in Cardiff last week.
Here is our team for the @Vodacom #URC coastal clash in Durban on Saturday. 🦈 v ⛈️
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) November 29, 2024
📢 Full team announcement https://t.co/wdRqiIflSn#SHAvSTO #iamastormer #dhldelivers pic.twitter.com/0joIyuptuu
Playing Libbok at flyhalf and Feinberg-Mngomezulu at inside centre would arguably make the Stormers a much more dangerous team so time will tell how long it takes Dobson to make that selection. The Stormers’ next game after this is their opening Investec Champions Cup clash with Toulon in Gqeberha next Saturday.
The good news for Stormers fans is that another Bok, Ben-Jason Dixon, is fit to play and has been selected to wear the No 7 jersey at Kings Park, with Dave Ewers, the veteran former Ulster and Exeter Chiefs looseforward, will play at openside flank in this game, with MarcelTheunissen playing off the back of the scrum.
Keke Morabe, who has been at No 8 for most of the Stormers games this season, is part of a bench that still looks surprisingly strong if you consider how many players the Cape franchise are missing to injury. It is a measure of the depth that has been developed that while they have flown to Durban as underdogs, they certainly haven’t travelled without hope.
The tight five is pretty much the same one that started the last game against Glasgow Warriors at the end of October, with JD Schickerling and Ruben van Heerden making up a formidable and experienced second row, but the Stormers have been strengthened by the return of the veteran Ali Vermaak from a long injury layoff at loosehead prop. Vermaak has long been one of the most underrated South African front-row forwards. The continued absence of Sti Sithole and Steven Kitshoff through injury means that another veteran, Brok Harris, continues in his role as one of the replacement forwards.
DHL Stormers team: Warrick Gelant, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Ruhan Nel, Dan du Plessis, Leolin Zas, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Herschel Jantjies, Marcel Theunissen, Ben-Jason Dixon, Dave Ewers, Ruben van Heerden, JD Schickerling, Neethling Fouche, Joseph Dweba, Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: Andre-Hugo Venter, Brok Harris, Sazi Sandi, Adre Smith, Keke Morabe, Louw Nel, Stefan Ungerer, Manie Libbok.