Cape Town - John Dobson could easily have rested all of his Springboks, but the likes of Manie Libbok and Marvin Orie told him that they wanted to play for the Stormers in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) clash against the Dragons in Gqeberha (2pm kickoff).
Only Damian Willemse, Evan Roos, Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe won’t feature for the Cape side from those who did duty for their country in last week’s victory over England at Twickenham.
There was more good news for Stormers fans on Friday as Dobson included star outside centre Ruhan Nel, who has been out of action for a few months with a neck injury picked up in pre-season.
There will be more intense competition in the Champions Cup from next week onwards, but the Dragons encounter at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium also gives the Test players an opportunity to reintegrate with the Stormers at URC level.
Another Bok in lock Salmaan Moerat will captain the side, while there are also inexperienced figures such as wing Tristan Leyds and loosehead prop Kwenzo Blose getting a chance in a starting XV with 11 players of colour.
“It’s quite a nice blend. Last week was a bit more experimental, so it’s a nice blend between the returning Springboks, but also I’m pleased to see a guy like Kwenzo getting a start, Lee-Marvin getting an opportunity, Zweli (Mnombo Zwelendaba), Tristan Leyds. We are trying to broaden our squad,” Dobson said on Friday.
“We did (evaluate) the Springboks all on an individual basis, and not just talking about game minutes, but what the players wanted was also important.
“They all had the option to rest this week. Kitsie wasn’t called in to train – he started his holiday. So, it’s about what the players wanted, and both Marvin and Manie wanted to play this week – and we are not really going to say no to that.
“Manie just loves playing rugby, and wants to put his hand up as much as he can. I would’ve loved to have given Kade (Wolhuter) another run, or more time to Jean-Luc.
“Next week, everybody’s available for selection, with the only guy out being Evan Roos with a fractured rib. It’s about three or four weeks, and it’s a long season and big year for him next year – and our experiences with rib injuries are that they are very painful.”
The Stormers, though, will know that they cannot think that the Dragons will be an easy win. They may have won only three out of eight games so far, but beat Munster, Ospreys and Zebre, and went down by just eight points to the Lions at Ellis Park last week (33-25).
“We feel this is probably our last opportunity to (experiment) – and it’s no disrespect to a much-improved, resurgent Dragons team. But we’ve got to be responsible,” Dobson said.
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“We identified these home games as a phase where we would try to build some capacity. Going into the Champions Cup next week, it will be a different selection policy – and also the local derbies – to the one we’ve employed so far.
“It’s a threat when a team doesn’t have a sort of brand name, like sometimes the Dragons didn’t help themselves and had a tough season last season.
“What was significant for us from last season is that we played the Dragons a week after they put 40 points on Connacht in Galway – which is a hell of an achievement – and it was probably one of our most physical games.
“So, we know about their physicality, and I reminded the players about how tough it was last season at Rodney Parade against them. Guys like (Ross) Moriarty, (Aaron) Wainwright… those forwards are really tough.
“They haven’t got table-topping or ace reputation that motivates (our) players, but I am going to remind them about how physical these Dragons are. If we don’t stand up to that, we could be in for a very long afternoon.”
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Teams For Gqeberha
Stormers: 15 Clayton Blommetjies 14 Tristan Leyds 13 Ruhan Nel 12 Dan du Plessis 11 Leolin Zas 10 Manie Libbok 9 Herschel Jantjies 8 Hacjivah Dayimani 7 Willie Engelbrecht 6 Nama Xaba 5 Marvin Orie 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain) 3 Neethling Fouche 2 Joseph Dweba 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze 17 Brok Harris 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko 19 Connor Evans 20 Deon Fourie 21 Paul de Wet 22 Kade Wolhuter 23 Mnombo Zwelendaba.
Dragons: 15 Angus O’Brien 14 Sio Tomkinson 13 Steff Hughes 12 Max Clark 11 Jordan Williams 10 JJ Hanrahan 9 Rhodri Williams 8 Ross Moriarty (captain) 7 Aaron Wainwright 6 Huw Taylor 5 Sean Lonsdale 4 Matthew Screech 3 Lloyd Fairbrother 2 Bradley Roberts 1 Aki Seiuli.
Replacements: 16 James Benjamin 17 Josh Reynolds 18 Chris Coleman 19 Harri Keddie 20 Ben Fry 21 Lewis Jones 22 Will Reed 23 Aneurin Owen.
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