United Rugby Championship (URC) action returns to South Africa on Saturday and the stakes could not be higher for the struggling Stormers when they host a Bulls team that has rediscovered winning ways.
The Cape team languishes in 12th place on the points table with eight rounds to go and technically they can still make eighth place (the last play-off spot) if they put together a winning streak.
That is easier said than done given that the Stormers suffered a blow to their confidence after dismally failing in their attempt to beat a second-string Leinster side in their last outing.
The Stormers had targeted that game (key players were rested the week before) but on the night they were not at the races. Before that match, Stormers coach John Dobson said, “If we don’t win this game, we are going to struggle to be in contention at the sharp end of the competition”.
The struggle is now real for Dobson as he tries to lift a side that has also suffered the loss of playmaker Manie Libbok.
The only comfort for Dobson is that most of the Stormers’ remaining games are in South Africa, but if they lose to the Bulls, they are surely history.
For Dobson’s counterpart, Jake White, the game presents an opportunity for a much sought-after win in Cape Town — the Bulls are yet to register a URC win away to the Stormers and White would love to break the duck. Besides the satisfaction the win would bring, this is an excellent opportunity for the Bulls to take a step closer to a top-two finish in the URC.
The Bulls are well-placed in third and have two games in hand over second-placed Glasgow. The Stormers, Lions and Sharks also have a game in hand on the overseas teams.
Both teams will also be without injured stars — Elrigh Louw is in hospital waiting for the swelling to go down on his fractured leg before he can undergo surgery, while second-rower Ruan Nortje is crocked once more. The desperately unlucky Nortje had only just come back from a long injury layoff when he went down in his team’s defeat of the Lions.
In terms of the loss of Louw, White is fortunate that experienced players are coming back from injury — Marco van Staden and Jannes Kirsten are expected to be available for selection. White can also call on Nama Xaba, Mpilo Gumede and Corne Beets along with Nizaam Carr and Cameron Hanekom.
At lock, White can resort to Ruan Vermaak, Cobus Wiese, JF van Heerden, Reinhardt Ludwig, Sintu Manjezi or Kirsten.
In the Bulls’ win at Ellis Park, they lost Johan Goosen to injury and White had to move fullback Willie le Roux to flyhalf. The game changed when that happened as Le Roux unlocked the ability of a backline that wasn’t seeing too much ball under the kick-happy Goosen.
Not only is Le Roux expected to continue at flyhalf this week but, according to weekend publication Rapport, White has talked him into staying on at the Bulls when his contract expires at the end of this season.
The 35-year-old was hoping to join Thomas du Toit at Bath but the plan has reportedly fallen through.
White wants Le Roux to finish his career at the Bulls as a backup flyhalf because Goosen is injury-prone and Boeta Chamberlain and Jaco van der Walt have not set the world on fire.