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Stormers centre Wandisile Simelane celebrates with his teammates after scoring what proved to be the winning try against the Bulls over the past weekend. Picture: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images
The Stormers are in a much better place after their top United Rugby Championship (URC) win over the Bulls this past weekend, and there are now some good vibes in the camp with reinforcements set to arrive before their tour to the UK.
Before the game at Loftus at the weekend the Stormers were nearing a do-or-die situation in terms of qualifying for the URC playoffs, and a loss would have set them back massively, especially with their two-game tour coming up.
But in dreadful weather conditions, which should have suited the Bulls’ style of play better than the Stormers, the side from Cape Town produced a fantastic fighting effort to clinch a 19-16 win.
Director of Rugby John Dobson hinted after the game that a number of star players were also on the verge of a return, and that they would be able to revert to their usual style of play.
“About eight guys are joining us on tour in two weeks. Naturally, it would change the way we play. You can throw in Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu), Damian (Williemse), Manie (Libbok) or Suleiman Hartzenberg into this group.
“It just changes the way we would play a bit. We like the X-factor of that. That’s not good coaching, that’s just special players who can do crazy things. Our development now would probably be the reintegration of those guys.”
The Stormers take on Scarlets in Wales and Ulster in Ireland on their tour, before returning to South Africa for an end of pool phase home run, and thanks to their win over their Highveld rivals, that has taken significant pressure off of them.
They are notoriously poor travellers and if they had lost to the Bulls they would have possibly needed to pick up two wins to stay in the playoff hunt, but now probably need just one win, and then a strong finish at home that should see them make the knockouts.
“We have to go on tour to play Scarlets and Ulster. Then we have got a nice four-match home run, that should put us properly in the mix,” said Dobson.
“We worked out that we have to win two of the four (away fixtures, including the Lions game at Ellis Park and Bulls match) to get into the top six. When it comes to the top eight, you don’t really want to finish in eighth position and having to play Leinster at Lansdowne Road.
“I think it’s too late for a home play-off, unfortunately.”
March 22 v Scarlets in Llanelli – 5pm kick-off
March 28 v Ulster in Belfast – 9:35pm kick-off
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