Cape Town — After the frustration of letting an 11-point lead slip in France, the Stormers will feel much more confident of bagging their first Champions Cup victory against London Irish following a much-needed personnel boost on Wednesday.
Coach John Dobson said at a press conference after a training session in a hot Stellenbosch that he does feel better now than he did immediately after the 24-14 loss at the Stade Marcel Michelin, and he would have been smiling even more ahead of Saturday’s clash at Cape Town Stadium (7.30pm kick-off).
Not only are Springboks Frans Malherbe — who was nominated for the SA Rugby Player of the Year award on Wednesday — and Marvin Orie back for the Irish encounter, but centre Dan du Plessis and loose forward Willie Engelbrecht have overcome their health issues as well.
In addition, London Irish won’t have veteran Argentinian hooker Agustin Creevy available after he received a four-week ban for a dangerous tackle on Montpellier fullback Anthony Bouthier last weekend, for which he was red-carded.
On the negative side of the injury column, lock Gary Porter (rib) and Ernst van Rhyn (knee) will be sidelined for a few weeks, while No 8 Evan Roos (rib) may return for the blockbuster URC clash against the Bulls next week Friday.
“Franna and Marvin are two real leaders, international-class forwards. Willie was actually meant to play last week against Clermont, but pulled up the day before with flu. Obviously Dan went down the night before, and Ernst after eight minutes. Gary went off at half-time, but he was injured in the eighth minute as well,” Dobson said.
“So, it was very disrupted, and this week will be a lot more settled. I don’t know how many of you have been to a rugby game in Clermont, but those disruptions, some mistakes on our part and that environment — where teams don’t go and win — it was in some ways a really satisfying performance. It was a really good experience for us.”
Du Plessis’ return at inside centre should result in Springbok star Damian Willemse shifting to fullback, which was the original selection last week.
That should result in better game management and an extra threat from the back, after Clayton Blommetjies and Manie Libbok made a couple of errors against Clermont.
The Stormers mentor also stated that the issues in defence in the second half in France have been addressed ahead of what should be an intriguing clash against the attack-minded London Irish outfit.
“I’ve got no issue with us dropping a ball or knocking a ball on in zero degrees — that wasn’t my issue, upon reflection. The mistakes we made were maybe more technical stuff… like somebody left a bubble early, or maybe we left four in the back-field when it should have been two,” Dobson said.
“Maybe we didn’t stick to the plan in bringing the ball back into the chase-line. I’ve got no issue with Manie dropping a ball.
“We are known to close up (in defence), and that is something we looked at, because if they get the ball into the wide channels, that makes it very hard for Kitsie (Steven Kitshoff) and Co (forwards) to get off the line. That has been addressed in that we know we didn’t close as hard as we could’ve.
“We also trained the whole week with Damian as the fullback and Dan du Plessis at centre, and even after the captain’s run, we didn’t make the change. So, it was a bit tough, but I am pretty sure that it has been sorted out.
“London Irish are quite an all-round team. They have one of the most effective line-outs and contesting line-outs, with Rob Simmons, but they play a really attractive brand of rugby.
“They don’t go away, and Benhard Janse van Rensburg does the sort of an Andre Esterhuizen job — he is the momentum-giver — and they have real speed out wide.
“They have lost four or five games in the English Premiership, but their points difference is only minus-22.
“Some guy nicknamed them ‘The Walking Dead’, because they just never go away — they never die. So, we know this is a team that really fights, as we saw last week against Montpellier when they had 14 men against the French champions.
“In terms of the rugby, it’s a solid set-piece, but a really high-speed attacking brand of rugby — almost coast-to-coast style of rugby, using (wing) Ollie Hassell-Collins and the speed they’ve got out wide.”
IOL Sport