Stormers won't let emotion cloud getting the job done against tricky Connacht

The Stormers’ starting line-up to face Connacht at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday will feature 10 Springboks as an emotional team bids farewell to legendary team manager Chippie Solomon, following his sudden passing last week.

Emotions aside, the match has major implications for the second-placed Stormers. A win would secure their place in the play-offs should results go their way this weekend. The Stormers also require 45 000 fans across their last two home games to break the URC league’s record for attendance in the regular season.

Up front, hooker Scarra Ntubeni is joined by props Zachary Porthen and Ntuthuko Mchunu in an all-Bok front row. Ntubeni will retire at the end of the season after 15 years as a Stormer.

JD Schickerling and Adré Smith continue as the lock pairing, with a fit-again Ruben van Heerden featuring on the replacements bench this week.

The loose forwards are also all Springboks, with Evan Roos joined by flanks Deon Fourie and Ben-Jason Dixon.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu will start at flyhalf this weekend and link up with scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, in the only change to the backline that did duty in the narrow loss to Toulon in the Champions Cup knock-out match a fortnight ago.

There is also plenty of quality on the replacements bench as Van Heerden is joined by forwards André-Hugo Venter, Oli Kebble, Neethling Fouché, Marcel Theunissen and Paul de Villiers, while Stefan Ungere and Wandisile Simelane will provide backline cover.

“Everyone at the club would like to celebrate Chippie’s life and make this a special occasion to pay our respects to someone who meant so much to us, but we will not let that distract us from the task on the field," coach  John Dobson said.

“This is a crucial game in the context of our season, and we face a strong Connacht team that will be playing to keep their play-off hopes alive. It will require a focused and clinical performance from us as we aim to take a step closer to securing home advantage in the knock-out phase of the season,” he said.

Dobson admitted he selected a team he believes can break down the most miserly defence in the URC.

“Connacht may not have the (glamour) brand of fellow Irish teams Leinster or Munster, but they are a seriously good rugby side. They’ve got a very good attack, and they never go away.”

An illustration of this was last season’s encounter when Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored a hat-trick inside 25 minutes, only for Connacht to almost win the game.

“That game went down to the last minute,” Dobson said. “We don’t want to be in that position again. Every time we play them, it’s a proper contest.”

“They’ve got the No 1 defence in the URC,” added Stormers captain Ruhan Nel.

“The way they work on defence, the way they get the spacing in their organisation, it’s not a defence where you can just hit one breakdown, get quick ball, get it out wide and get around,” added Dobson.

“It’s not like that at all. You’re going to have to find ways through them, or over them, and so that was a big influence on selection.”

Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Damian Willemse, 13 Ruhan Nel (captain), 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu. Replacements: 16 André-Hugo Venter, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Neethling Fouché, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Wandisile Simelane.

Connacht: 15 Sam Gilbert, 14 Harry West, 13 John Devine, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 Shayne Bolton, 10 Sean Naughton, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 Sean Jansen, 7 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 6 Cian Prendergast (captain), 5 Darragh Murray, 4 David O’Connor, 3 Sam Illo, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Billy Bohan Replacements: 16 Matthew Victory, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Josh Murphy, 20 Paul Boyle, 21 Colm Reilly, 22 Jack Carty, 23 Hugh Gavin