John Dobson says the upcoming derbies against the Sharks and Vodacom Bulls are “non-negotiable” as the DHL Stormers look to secure a place in the URC’s top four.
The Stormers will travel to Durban to take on the Sharks, having rebounded from a winless four-week tour to come out on top in seven of their last eight games in all competitions.
Dobson’s side currently sit in seventh place on the URC table, but are just four points outside the top four.
Saturday’s match against a Sharks team languishing at the bottom of the table presents with the Stormers with an opportunity to close the gap on the fourth-placed Bulls, before the big clash at Loftus Versfeld on 2 March.
“We’ve got two big local derbies now, the Sharks and the Bulls … We put ourselves under a bit of pressure by having a poor tour and we’re paying the price for that still. That’s what makes these derbies so, so important to us,” Dobson said.
“If we want to secure top eight and play in the playoffs and secure [a place in] the Champions Cup, these are really important games for us. We put ourselves under this pressure and turned the ship around in a sense, but the real test is going to be over these two weeks, against these two teams.
“All the teams above us, other than the Bulls of course, have to still come to South Africa and there’s no easy wins in SA – not at Kings Park, not at Ellis Park, not at Loftus, and not here. That log is going to change quite a bit.
“For us, in the local derbies, trying to get into the top four … us against the Bulls is very important because of a four-point gap. Irrespective, we’re still in a good position to attack for the top four. Both of these are non-negotiable.
“If you come out of that mini-log on top you can argue you’re the best team in South Africa. We’re under pressure, the Bulls are ahead of us and in good form, so it’ll be a fight for us to retain [the SA Shield].”
The Stormers will be without key trio Damian Willemse, Manie Libbok and Deon Fourie for the match at Kings Park, due to Springbok resting protocol.
However, Dobson confirmed that the Sharks game will be the only one that the Springboks will be sitting out, as they are counting both the post-World Cup break and the mid-season break as part of the protocol.
This means that the Stormers will be at full strength when they face the Bulls in Pretoria in two week’s time, with Jake White’s also set to have all of their Springboks available for the mouthwatering clash.
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