Stormers v Ulster - Teams and Prediction
URC SEMIFINAL PREVIEW: Former Springbok captain Bobby Skinstad believes the Stormers will have to cut out some of the mistakes in their game if they are to go all the way in this season’s United Rugby Championship tournament.
The Capetonians are up against Ulster in Saturday’s URC semifinal at the Cape Town Stadium. It’s a semifinal that has become harder to predict than the Leinster v Bulls clash on Friday.
Ulster showed their credentials by outplaying Muster 36-17 in the quarterfinals, which stretched their winning run in the URC to three matches.
However, the Stormers have won their last nine matches since losing to Connacht in Galway in February and have lost just once at home all season in the URC – a 19-37 defeat to the Lions in December.
They booked their Final Four berth by beating Edinburgh 28-17 in Cape Town last weekend.
Despite the Stormers’ exceptional run of results, Skinstad believes they will need to shift to a higher gear to beat Ulster.
“The Stormers at home should be good enough – they’ve got firepower,” said Skinstad.
“I think the Stormers are the unpolished gem of this tournament because if they made as few mistakes as Leinster, they could be Championship winners, but they do allow mistakes to creep into their game.
“Trying things and scoring tries is part of their DNA and I’m not saying that should change – that’s pretty much how I tried to play – but if they made slightly less mistakes they’d be a lot harder to beat, to put it that way.
“I think the Stormers will prepare slightly differently.
“This Ulster team are very accomplished in and around the ruck area, so they steal a lot of the ball. They are very good defensively close to that ruck.
“I am expecting that the strengths will match up enough to make this a really tight clash.
“I think the Ulster outside backs played exceptionally well in their quarterfinal, but the Stormers outside backs have played exceptionally well all season.
“If the Stormers don’t do the hard yards technically, then Ulster will be able to pick them apart.
“Ulster have got enough in [Nick] Timoney and a couple of other key loose forward options, to steal the ball if you don’t look after it.
“I think the Stormers must concentrate on keeping their own ball and then trucking the ball a little bit up the middle before spreading it wide.
“Ulster cover the field very well and have really good tackle and ruck experts who can steal the ball away from you.”
What it means to be a DHL Stormer. 💙🤍⛈️#iamastormer #sachaisastormer #dhldelivers @Vodacom #URC pic.twitter.com/g60I5kzHgX
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) June 10, 2022
Stormers head coach John Dobson said there were lessons learned from their last outing against the Irish Province.
Dobson’s side recorded a narrow 23-20 in a match which had some controversy. A crucial call two minutes from full-time denied Ulster what they thought was a match-winning try.
“When we looked at it again this week and realised our kicking struggles were self-inflicted,” said Dobson.
“We put poor kicks on them, which allowed them to kick those contestables back, so that is controllable.
“Receiving the contestables wasn’t where it should have been and our play off that wasn’t as quick as it should have been.
“The other thing was that we gave seven penalties away.
“They are the best mauling team in the competition. Most of their tries come off line-outs.
“We gave them seven of those [line-outs] five metres from our line, which is a recipe for disaster against a team like them.
“They are not a team that is going to for three points, they are going to go into the corner.
“We defended those mauls really well last time.”
Congrats to our action-man @evanroos4 for being named the @Vodacom #URC Next-Gen Star of the Season. 🏆👏 #iamastormer #dhldelivers pic.twitter.com/RaVJ8nmX4v
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) June 9, 2022
Meanwhile, Ulster No.8 Duane Vermeulen had a lot of praise for his counterpart, Evan Roos, ahead of Saturday’s semifinal.
Roos has been one of the tournament’s best players and there has been plenty of talk about him playing for the Springboks soon.
“There’s big talk about him. He’s an exceptional player and plays well in The Stormers’ set-up,” said Vermeulen.
“He’s a big carrier for them.
“We play completely different styles. He’s out and running in the backline and from line-outs, where I am with the forwards.
“There’s a whole different game plan – you can match him with Nick Timoney or Marcus Rea.
“He’s been really influential in the way they play and he’s racked up a couple of Player-of-the-Match Performances.
“It’s really good for them, he is playing well and hopefully he gets an opportunity in the national squad.
“If you play well, you need to get an opportunity somewhere else. Hopefully, it’s national colours.”
What a season it’s been for @_jume12 🔥#URC pic.twitter.com/pDIJkNRQ2I
— Ulster Rugby (@UlsterRugby) June 8, 2022
Prediction
@rugby365com: Stormers by five points.
Teams:
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Ernst van Rhyn, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Godlen Masimla, 23 Sacha Mngomezulu.
Ulster: 15 Stewart Moore, 14 Rob Baloucoune, 13 James Hume, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Ethan McIlroy, 10 Billy Burns, 9 John Cooney, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Marcus Rea, 5 Iain Henderson (captain), 4 Alan O’Connor, 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Andrew Warwick
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Eric O’Sullivan, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Matty Rea, 21 Nathan Doak, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Ben Moxham.
Date: Saturday, June 11
Venue: Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
Kick-off: 15.00 (14.00 UK & Ireland time; 13.00 GMT)
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Sam Grove-White (Scotland), Adam Jones (Wales)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Additional sources: @URCOfficial & @UlsterRugby
