mens
United-rugby-championship
DHL Stormers will be looking to make amends for a poor showing last season when they welcome leaders Hollywoodbets Sharks in Cape Town for a “Test match” clash on Saturday.
John Dobson’s side were beaten twice by the Sharks at the BKT URC in the space of seven dark days in January, losing 30-19 at home and then 36-24 in Durban a week later.
So they will be on a revenge mission at a packed DHL Stadium this weekend after picking a star-studded squad for the big South African derby.
“That was our lowest point last season when we lost those two games to the Sharks,” Dobson admitted.
“We were embarrassed to lose to them at home. We didn’t even get a bonus point for losing at home against a team that would have been tenth on the log or something.”
The Sharks will head to Cape Town this time in a very different place in the league.
They currently sit pretty high on the table as the only team to take maximum points from the first two rounds of BKT URC matches, beating the Ospreys (41-24) and the champions Leinster Rugby (26-20) in Durban.
“It’s a confident Sharks team,” Dobson said.
“It’s Bok against Bok. It’s going to be one of those derbies.”
“There are many reasons to buy tickets this week.
“Maybe last season we watched Bulls like a big deal and they were a bit soft on the sharks. They were not marked.
“I think this game will have the feel of a classic derby.
“I’m not worried about bringing the players up. I’m not worried about being flat at all.
“I feel like a different group – highly motivated, focused, well led.”
Dobson has named eight Springboks in his starting XV, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Damian Willemse, Cobus Reinach and Paul de Villiers coming into the side, while three others are on the bench.
“With the respect we show in the derby, the respect we show the Sharks and after last season, we went with the strongest team we could,” he said.
“We’re about as full a roster as we could hope for.
“It’s one of those games we’re dreaming of this year, a local derby against a Sharks team that’s doing really well.
“We’re bringing back all our guys that we’re so proud of from the Springboks team.
“This is a local derby at the best time to play rugby, 4pm on a Saturday afternoon at a blistering DHL Stadium.
“It’s going to be something special, so we’re very excited.
“This is as good a local derby as you’re going to get.
“If you look at the quality of players in both teams, these are the guys who played the state so proud a few weeks ago, and now they’re going toe-to-toe.
“It will be the best of South African rugby. It will be like a Test match. It will be a special occasion.”
The Stormers will also be looking to make amends for last weekend’s 17-13 away defeat Edinburgh Rugby when the line-up proved their Achilles heel as they lost no less than 11 tackles.
“All our key stats were better than last week against Connacht,” said Dobson.
“The dominance in the tackle, the speed on the line, the meter after contact, the conversion rate of 22 are all up against the Galway win.
“There was only one thing that went wrong.”
As for the likelihood of the squad improving this week, he said: “I just think with the level of disappointment, frustration and desperation we’ve felt, it’s going to get better.
“It has to be. We’re going to lose this game if we lose six or more lines.
“The two best competitive teams in the competition are Edinburgh and the Sharks. It’s a challenge.”