John Dobson is confident that the DHL Stormers can overcome their struggles abroad and secure a home Champions Cup playoff in Paris on Saturday. DYLAN JACK reports.
The Stormers are in the French capital to face Stade Francais in the final, decisive round of pool action.
Dobson named a strong lineup for Saturday night’s clash, with Springboks Deon Fourie, Manie Libbok and Damian Willemse all returning to the city where they won the World Cup a few months ago.
The Stormers have struggled to emulate their success-rate at home when they have travelled overseas this season, losing all four of their Vodacom URC tour matches in November.
However, their Champions Cup performance with an overhauled side against a powerful Leicester Tigers lineup at Welford Road has given Dobson hope that the Stormers can secure the all-important home playoff.
“Our results have been poor overseas. I think all the South African franchises battle in these sort of conditions,” Dobson said.
“Even though our [Vodacom URC] tour was poor, we learned a lot, about our processes, understanding the kicking game – which is much better. I thought our performance at Welford Road was excellent, probably one of our best since we joined the various competitions in Europe.
“Manie has experience up here now, so does Damian, as they played here at international level.
“I am pretty optimistic that we are heading in the right direction. I know we lost four on tour. But the areas that we were poor in, we have been much better at since then.”
Following successive home wins in the Champions Cup, the Stormers are currently in second place in their pool, but will need a bonus-point win to take control of their destiny and secure home-field advantage in the last 16.
“We want to play to have a round of 16 game at home. That requires us to get five points. We might only know that after La Rochelle plays against Sale Sharks on Sunday, but we aren’t interested in that, really,” Dobson said.
“We are playing to play the next round in Cape Town. That’s the big thing for us, getting five points. Anything short of that, scraping through, great, job well done. But we are planning for something quite special if we can host.
“The crowd last week when we played against an unheralded Sale Sharks team, it’s a great trend when I think of the vibe at the stadium. For us to play a knockout game in Cape Town is big for us, both financially and, more importantly, for the morale of the supporters.”
Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
