Cape Town - Stormers coach John Dobson says they are embracing the unique experience that awaits them in Galway when they face Connacht in their United Rugby Championship clash on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).
The Stormers have made three changes and a positional switch for the fixture against the Irish side.
Evan Roos, Herschel Jantjies and Dan du Plessis have all been selected, while Damian Willemse shifts to fullback for the Stormers’ first ever match against the Irish side.
Willemse, who ran out at 12 in their last local derby against the Lions, is at fullback in the place of Warrick Gelant, who has been ruled out injured, with Du Plessis coming in at inside centre.
Jantjies featured off the bench in the 32-10 win at Ellis Park a fortnight ago, while Roos returns from injury.
Props Ali Vermaak and Neethling Fouche and loose forward Junior Pokomela are among the replacements, having returned from injury recently.
Dobson explained Willemse's selection.
“We have a string of six home games coming up. It was about weighing up the risk against the return of playing Warrick in these conditions, which aren’t his natural habitat and could do more damage to his hamstring,” he said.
“When you play into the wind, you have to try and keep the ball. You can’t do that if they put a wall of 14 players up. Warrick has his traditional counter-attacks, but we may need some territorial attacking kicks or a fullback who can smash back into the line, which Damian is well suited for.”
Dobson added that they are expecting a different challenge at The Sportsground and it’s one they’re welcoming.
It's matchday in Galway where the DHL Stormers are up against @connachtrugby for the first time. Kick-off at the Sportsground is at 15h00 in SA (13h00 local time). Let's go boys!#iamastormer #dhldelivers @Vodacom #URC pic.twitter.com/X7HhgiSEW7
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) February 26, 2022
“We could complain about it, say it’s not really a proper stadium, that there’s a greyhound track around it, the weather is terrible and the wind comes in. I don’t know if you saw the footage of training yesterday, when the hail and snow were coming through.
“Or we could say to ourselves that we are not going to experience this often in rugby anymore. They have got plans for the development of The Sportsground, maybe putting a roof on it. It is really just a unique experience in a beautiful town.
“Playing in this environment, it’s something that top-end professionals like Steven Kitshoff and those guys don’t get to experience much. This is one of the classics of rugby. So we are going to embrace this as a great experience.”
STORMERS TEAM:
15 Damian Willemse 14 Sergeal Petersen 13 Ruhan Nel 12 Dan du Plessis 11 Seabelo Senatla 10 Manie Libbok 9 Herschel Jantjies 8 Evan Roos 7 Ernst van Rhyn 6 Deon Fourie 5 Marvin Orie 4 Adre Smith 3 Brok Harris 2 Scarra Ntubeni 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Bench: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter 17 Ali Vermaak 18 Neethling Fouche 19 David Meihuizen 20 Hacjivah Dayimani 21 Junior Pokomela 22 Paul de Wet 23 Angelo Davids.