The Stormers took a big knock this week with the news that Springboks Evan Roos and Herschel Jantjies will not feature against the Bulls in their United Rugby Championship (URC) North-South derby on Saturday in Cape Town.
Roos broke his jaw and will be out for eight weeks, Independent Newspapers’ sources confirmed. Jantjies apparently has a leg contusion and his return to action will be monitored by the Stormers medical staff. But he won’t make the much-anticipated derby.
Roos has been one of the stand-out forwards for the Cape side and his physical presence will be missed, especially against their arch-rivals. His match-up with youngster Cameron Hanekom was one of the anticipated clashes, especially with Hanekom having a blast at the start of his Bulls career.
The duel between Jantjies and the Bulls’ Bok scrumhalf Embrose Papier would’ve been a mouthwatering one as well, but that is now on ice with Paul de Wet likely to take the nine jersey of the home team and Stefan Ungerer as his second-in-command.
Early Christmas present
An early Christmas present awaits the winner of Saturday’s match with bragging rights going to the winners until the next clash.
For the Bulls, a victory will be the first win in the competition over the Cape side. They haven’t tasted success in six matches and getting one over the former champions will go a long way towards boosting their season.
For the Stormers, the chance to go 7-0 against their enemy from up north awaits with a win. They will also close the gap between them and the Loftus side on the URC log.
Despite losing Roos, six wins on the trot will be all the motivation the home side needs to push for the seventh, but even more will be the motivation for the Bulls to break their URC duck against the former champions in the DHL Stadium (7pm kick-off).
The fleet-footed Hacjivah Dayimani replaced Roos at the back of the scrum. Although they are losing some physicality, Dayimani brings another dimension to the Stormers’ attack at the back of the pack and it will leave them in a good place to counter the Bulls’ running game.
Apart from halting the Bulls’ attacking game, Stormers head coach John Dobson has highlighted his side’s ball protection at the breakdown, and their ability to round off 22m attacking entries, as something they have to improve on.
Recently against La Rochelle, they had ample opportunities in the first half to score points, but they couldn’t capitalise. If they want to bury the Bulls, they’ll have to strike when the chance for points presents itself.
This is one of the areas the Cape side wants to improve on and the match against the Bulls is the perfect opportunity to do so. A win will get their URC campaign back on track and will close the gap the Loftus side has built up between them on the tournament points log.
Should the Bulls pull off their first URC victory over their Cape foes, they’ll put clear daylight between them and the rest of the SA franchises in the tournament.