DHL Stormers director of rugby John Dobson has come up with a few surprise selections for Friday night’s important Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with Ulster in Belfast.
With some players due for a rest in terms of Springbok resting protocols, some choices you could say were out of his hands, but what is interesting is Dobson’s decision to go for Suleiman Hartzenberg at outside centre.
The youngster is considered the Stormers’ future in that position so it is an exciting call but most of Hartzenberg’s appearances for the Stormers in recent times have been on the wing, where he has excelled.
He replaces Wandisile Simelane, who moves to the bench, while Damian Willemse comes in at fullback for Warrick Gelant, who is apparently having his workload managed.
It is an interesting time for him to be rested as the Stormers go into a three week break after this due to them having been knocked out of both the EPCR competitions that will take centre stage over the next fortnight.
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It probably does make sense though to give the players a break when they can take it in a four week block, as is the case with regular captain Salmaan Moerat and Springbok tighthead prop Frans Malherbe.
Both of them are sitting out this game, which is why Neethling Fouche will return to the front row after missing last week’s game against the Scarlets to be at the birth of his second child as the team’s designated captain.
Connor Evans, the promising young lock who hasn’t had much playing opportunity for the Stormers, get a starting chance as the replacement for Moerat and it will be interesting to see how he goes at a venue that hasn’t been kind to the Stormers in the past.
The other surprise apart from Hartzenberg wearing the No 13 and Evans’ elevation is Dave Ewers’ selection to play against his old teammates on the openside flank. Deon Fourie was concussed in last week’s win over the Scarlets and has to take a mandatory stand down period due to the HIA protocols.
However, with Paul de Villiers having joined the squad in Belfast during the week, Dobson did have a more like for like replacement available.
Willie Engelbrecht is the backup looseforward on a bench that is again a five/three split between forwards and backs.
In another change to the team that won last week, Dewaldt Duvenage wears the No 9 jersey ahead of Herschel Jantjies, with Paul de Wet coming in as the back-up scrumhalf.
A win will be a huge boost for the Stormers as they go into a four game home sequence after this but they did take some of the pressure off themselves by winning last week in Llanelli. Dobson said before the away Bulls game at the beginning of March that he was looking for two wins in the remaining three away games and they have hit that target already with one game to come.
However, while defeat won’t be the end of the world, the Stormers can’t just assume they will win every home game as a matter of course, something they learnt to their cost last season when they were upset at DHL Stadium by the Ospreys. So as assistant coach Rito Hlungwani said during the week, the pressure is on them to keep winning and to treat every match as if it is a knock-out fixture.
DHL Stormers team: Damian Willemse, Ben Loader, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Dan du Plessis, Leolin Zas, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Dewaldt Duvenage, Evan Roos, Marcel Theunissen, Dave Ewers, Ruben van Heerden, Connor Evans, Neethling Fouche (captain), Joseph Dweba, Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: Andre-Hugo Venter, Brok Harris, Sazi Sandi, Gary Porter, Willie Engelbrecht, Paul de Wet, Jurie Matthee, Wandisile Simelane.