IT WILL be the Stormers’ ultimate test when they face back-to-back European Champions Cup winners La Rochelle at the DHL Stadium today.
That is how John Dobson, coach of the Cape side, described today’s encounter against the French powerhouse (kick-off 4 pm) for a place in the quarter-finals.
“If they played in the World Cup as their own country, they would get very far,” is how Dobson described his side’s opponents.
“The odds are against us, but if you look at our achievements, hosting two round of 16 games both times we’ve played in the tournament is a great achievement. But this is another beast, though, in terms of the quality of opposition we are facing.
“They are an amazing side and I don’t think the Stormers have faced a stronger side before. We will have a bit of an indication of where we are tomorrow (today).
“There is a feeling of excitement. If we manage to do something special, then we’ve had two games against the two-time champions. It will show we are really at the top table. It’s a huge occasion for us.”
Dobson made it clear yesterday that his team will look to play at a high tempo with their typical Stormers rugby to put the champions under pressure from the get-go.
Last weekend, the Cape side struggled to get into the game from the kick-off against Ulster in the United Rugby Championship and only really started getting their rhythm in the second half. So it’s going to be vital for their backline especially to find their groove as early as possible to put the French club under pressure today.
The only change at the back sees scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies come in for Paul de Wet, while up front, fetcher Deon Fourie returns from injury in what will be a crucial breakdown battle with the loose forwards of La Rochelle.
Dobson has opted to play Hacjivah Dayimani off the bench in the hope that the game opens up in the second half to allow the flight-footed loosie to make his magic.
The grunt of eighthman Evan Roos and fellow hardman-flanker Ben-Jason Dixon will be starting, with Fourie to keep the big men of the French club in check.
“We must make sure this game is played at tempo,” said Dobson.
“That wasn’t the case when we played them in Cape Town in December. We want to move the ball around. We are not afraid of them physically, but that is the way to play against these guys. We hope the referee will keep the tempo up and there are not a lot of guys lying down so that we can’t get any momentum.
“Our idea is to play typical Stormers rugby.
“The team is relatively settled over the last couple of weeks. Selection hasn’t been easy.
“You have that obvious question of getting Dan (du Plessis), Damian (Willemse), and Warrick (Gelant) all on the field; that was a challenge, where you could play Wandisile (Simelane) at 13 and bench Dan, with Damian at 13. It caused us quite a bit of debate.
“Which tighthead starts, and which hooker do we go for? Loose forward is always competitive. We tried to go for consistency, but that’s got a flipside too.
“There are disappointed players within our squad who haven’t played for a while and we have to be careful about that going forward.”
Dobson conceded that his team are not the favourites in terms of winning the game, but if they manage to beat La Rochelle twice in one season, they could consider themselves one of the better teams around.
He added that they have absolutely nothing to fear going into this clash.
“We have hosted a round of 16 game again and that is a great achievement. We have nothing to lose. We can attack this competition. No one expected us to beat this star-studded, massive team. If things do go wrong, we will be better for the experience of playing against a freakishly good team like La Rochelle. There is no fear of loss.”
Stormers starting XV: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (capt), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Brok Harris
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Hacjivah Dayimani, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Ben Loader