Cape Town — The ghosts of Sandy Park have been exorcised, and even though they had a short week of preparation, the Stormers are ready to tackle Munster head-on in this evening's United Rugby Championship (URC) clash in Cape Town.
After a poor showing in their Champions Cup quarter-final against Exeter, which dumped them out of the tournament, the defending URC champions could shift their focus entirely to defending their title.
And with no travel in sight for the foreseeable future, well only a road trip down the N1 to Stellenbosch this coming Friday, the team can focus all their energy on getting wins over Munster and Benetton (in Stellenbosch) in the final two round-robin matches.
John Dobson, the Stormers coach, knows that the game against Munster stands between them and securing second place on the overall log for a possible home semi-final.
“We had a pretty long day on Wednesday where we covered a lot of stuff and exorcised the ghosts of Sandy Park. I'm very happy with the prep,” Dobson said ahead of the match.
The Stormers will look to make it 20 wins in a row at DHL Stadium, where they've won 19 games on the trot while winning three others in Stellenbosch and Gqeberha.
So, the side will be looking to make it 23 consecutive home wins.
For that though, the Stormers will have to get past the pack of Munster forwards and navigate their kicking game which will be led by halfbacks Conor Murray and Jack Crowley.
A fierce lineout battle will be contested by Springboks Marvie Orie and RG Snyman. Orie is the Stormers' lineout director and his calls will be vital to keep the ball away from Snyman.
Former Stormer Jean Kleyn will pack down next to Snyman for the visitors which means Orie and fellow lock Ruben van Heerden will have their hands full with opponents who understand every bit of Afrikaans they will speak.
The rolling maul is an integral part of the Stormers' attacking arsenal, and although they were outstanding in the lineouts against Exeter, they failed to score any tries off mauls.
They will be looking to set the record straight today.
“There's a lot of height out there, so you have to get the ball out of RG's reach. We have some plans around that. We try and score maul tries every game and we missed out last week.
“It's also an important part of Munster's DNA and sometimes with mauling, if you get mauled first, you sort of lose confidence in your own. So that's going to be part of the big battle, they are a good mauling side.”
Dobson made four changes to the side with Van Heerden making a return as well as loose forwards Hacjivah Dayimani and Willie Engelbrecht who have been promoted from the replacements bench. In a sole change to the backline, scrumhalf Paul de Wet gets a start in place of Springbok Herschel Jantjies.
Dobson said it's important for his team to get off to a flyer to make sure that they keep the pressure on Munster and not the other way around.
That's how the Stormers have been subduing their opponents this past season by striking first.
But against Exeter, the opposite happened.
“There must be some doubt in Munster's mind, and if we can score early, hopefully, we can grow that. At Exeter, it was a different picture.
“We've done it so often, where we score in the first two minutes, that we are almost used to it. Now there's sort of a negative consequence on us if we do not put pressure on (early).
“But I think it can (if the Stormers strike first) put a doubt in Munster's mind.”
Stormers: 15. Damian Willemse, 14. Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13. Ruhan Nel, 12. Dan du Plessis, 11. Seabelo Senatla, 10. Manie Libbok, 9. Paul de Wet, 8. Hacjivah Dayimani, 7. Ben-Jason Dixon, 6. Willie Engelbrecht, 5. Marvin Orie, 4. Ruben van Heerden, 3. Frans Malherbe, 2. Joseph Dweba, 1. Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16. JJ Kotze, 17. Ali Vermaak, 18. Neethling Fouche, 19. Ernst van Rhyn, 20. Marcel Theunissen, 21. Evan Roos, 22. Herschel Jantjies, 23. Clayton Blommetjies.
Munster: 15. Mike Haley, 14. Calvin Nash, 13. Antoine Frisch, 12. Malakai Fekitoa, 11. Shane Daly, 10. Jack Crowley, 9. Conor Murray, 8. Gavin Coombe, 7. Alex Kendellen, 6. Peter O'Mahony (captain), 5. RG Snyman, 4. Jean Kleyn, 3. Stephen Archer, 2. Diarmuid Barron, 1. Jeremy Loughman.
Replacements: 16. Scott Buckley, 17. Josh Wycherley, 18. Keynan Knox, 19. Fineen Wycherley, 20. Jack O'Donoghue, 21. Craig Casey, 22. Ben Healy, 23. Keith Earls.
IOL Sport