Stormers boss John Dobson hailed Saturday’s “special win” in Cape Town that tees up the team for a third successive appearance in the Investec Champions Cup playoffs.
Dobson’s charges eased past Pool 4 rivals Sale Sharks 40-0 at Cape Town Stadium to claim their first points of the season in Europe’s premier club competition.
Manie Libbok scored 13 points for the Stormers to keep their hopes of a last-16 place alive after having lost their opening two games. They will face Racing 92 in the final round of the pool stages next Saturday, and travel to France on the back of three big wins in the EPCR and Vodacom URC.
Speaking post-match on Saturday, Dobson highlighted the impact of returning stars over the past few weeks like Deon Fourie, Evan Roos and Ben Loader while tempering expectations given the demands of two competitions.
“What we really got right today was our transitions and denting up the middle before going wide, rather than trying to be too lateral, and that’s what we always try to do and what we were after,” the Stormers director of rugby told reporters.
“It’s also not hard to work out that we got some big personnel who’ve come back … There’s definitely room for improvement and we’ve got another gear, but it’s a special win.
“I’m very happy and can’t complain, and I knew once the personnel came back it would be good for us.
“But we must keep perspective on where we are with the competitions; we’re one from three in the Champions Cup and we’ve got to think what next week can spit up, and the next week, because our day job is very much the URC.
“I don’t want to think of euphoria and this is our season’s crowning, it’s a different tournament and we have to be careful about getting excited.
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“We’ll go for it next week – we have to – there’s not one game we won’t,” Dobson added.
“But we might have a look at a few guys because the following week it’s Leinster in Dublin, and maybe look at some players who’ve gone through the whole Summer Series [festive period] with high workloads.
“But there’s no doubt when we’re on the field next week at La Defense we’ll be going for it, no question. Either playing for a place in the Challenge Cup or a place in the last 16.
“We pride ourselves that in every competition we’ve been in as a group, we’ve made the playoffs and we’ll be absolutely determined.”
He also shed light on the return of players still sidelined, notably playmakers Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Damian Willemse along with centre Dan du Plessis.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu seriously injured his shoulder against the Sharks on 28 December and according to Dobson, will only be available again in three to four weeks for the local derbies in the URC, the earliest possibly the 8 February north-south clash against the Bulls in Cape Town.
Willemse (groin) is due back late March “but is starting to run” while Du Plessis is up to four weeks away from a return from a knee injury. Loose forward Louw Nel and lock Connor Evans, too, are on the mend and in line to feature over the coming four to six weeks.
“Ruhan [Nel] will be back next week, Seabelo [Senatla] will be back next week, Zassy [Leolin Zas] will be back next week, so to do this without those guys is a special feeling,” Dobson said.
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
