They don’t have a knife to their necks yet, but if the Stormers can’t get the win against Munster in the evening in Cape Town, they will start feeling the pressure in the United Rugby Championsip.
Building continuity is high on the priority list of the Cape side as they head into some crucial home games over the next two weeks against two title-winning teams.
They’ve shuffled their pack and gone the route of a bomb squad to try and get a first-ever URC win over their Irish opponents in the DHL Stadium (6 pm start).
The #Stormers have plenty of cover in the backline with utility players. The physical challenge expected from Munster sees them go 6-2 on the bench #URC pic.twitter.com/0kAf70ScG0
— Leighton Koopman (@Leighton_K) October 18, 2024
Springbok scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies and flyhalf Jurie Matthee are the only backline players amongst the replacements as the Cape side anticipates a physical encounter against the former champions.
Off the back of a 38-7 defeat at the hands of Edinburgh, Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson said it hasn’t been a pleasant week for them. But, there is a real determination to put things right tonight.
“If we get through the game (tonight) and next week, that is two home games and should they go like most home games, we will be in a different world. Then we are three wins from five,” Dobson said about the encounters with Munster and the Glasgow Warriors next weekend.
“In the context of our URC season, the Munster clash is an important one. The mood in the squad will change if we don't get the win”
“That makes tomorrow (today) super important. There is an element of understanding the pressure, but we also haven’t played a game here since June, so it’s fantastic to be back. (It’s) Two games at home, if we don’t get it right, we won’t feel secure. In the context of our URC season, the Munster clash is an important one. The mood in the squad will change if we don’t get the win.”
According to Dobson, there won’t be any added pressure on them because they haven’t beaten Munster in the URC, but they are aware of the results. Both clashes in Cape Town - a league game and the Grand Finale in 2023 - were decided by less than seven points.
Dobson continued that they do not want to hype their opponents up, but they are determined to stop the trend against a very good side full of internationals.
“Those two games in Cape Town, we lost the aerial battle and that will be really important (tonight).”
“They’ve won the URC and developed a really nice style of rugby. They move the ball quite wide and it looks a bit different from the Munster side that ground out a win here, maybe they will do the same, I don’t know.
"Those two games in Cape Town, we lost the aerial battle and that will be really important (tonight). We know they come with clever plays around the lineout too and we saw some great ones last week (against Leinster). It was also a helluva scrum battle and they went hammer and tongs at each other.
"We want to develop our reputation for ascendency there and being the best scrummaging side in the competition."
After their scrumming woes in two of the three tour matches, the #Stormers had a 'fruitful' conversation with #URC ref boss Tappe Henning on Friday ahead of facing Munster in Cape Town pic.twitter.com/aIKvuJfyhP
— Leighton Koopman (@Leighton_K) October 18, 2024
After some questionable calls in two of their tour matches, especially at scrum time, the Stormers had a ‘fruitful’ conversation with URC ref boss Tappe Henning yesterday to clear some things up.
The source of the Cape side’s frustrations has been the officiating around the scrums and breakdown.
“We have a great scrum culture here and some teams try to avoid it and are successful. At the same time, it’s frustrating to us, because then you start to think ‘which way the game is going’. It’s an important ongoing conversation.”
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis (captain), 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Dave Ewers, 21 Louw Nel, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Jurie Matthee.