Four areas Stormers need to address
OPINION: Ask any team pre-season if they’ll take eight wins on the bounce and lose their final two games before a break, and they’ll probably say yes – with a capital Y.
That’s exactly what the Stormers are enduring at the moment in the United Rugby Championship. The Capetonians had a solid start to the tournament before a resurgent Sharks team did the double against their coastal rivals.
The URC is a marathon, not a sprint, and for the Stormers, who were quickly out of the blocks, it could be a case of running out of steam, and the signs were there that the inevitable loss is coming after their narrow escape against the Lions in late December.
South African derbies by nature are brutal. Players know each other inside out from being regular opponents or even former teammates, with players moving franchises on a regular basis.
Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson used over 40 players during the URC and Champions Cup, which indicates that he is looking at the bigger picture of building squad depth while winning.
Many things happened since whitewashing defending champions Leinster 35-0 in their opening clash, but there are questions Dobson should consider heading into a three-week break before facing the Lions in Johannesburg.
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The captaincy issue
Centre Ruhan Nel started the season as captain before a calf strain ruled him out mid-December 2025.
He should be back when the URC resumes on the weekend of February 21, and should assume the captaincy as well.
Nel’s maturity, calmness, and natural leadership capabilities were a key factor behind the Stormers’ early-season success, case in point their comeback 26-21 win over Munster after being 6-21 down at the break.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is a fine leader in his own right, and captained his age group teams to silverware before. However, his time will come when he is ready for the huge responsibility.
At this stage, it just seems that the armband is a tad too much on the plate of the young prodigy, and maybe just allowing him to play his game without having the extra pressure of being the skipper would bring back the SFM everyone has grown to love and admire.
There are still plenty of leaders in the Stormers team. Salmaan Moerat will be sidelined for four months, but the likes of Neethling Fouche and Damian Willemse all led the team before.
A strong leadership group could make Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s job easier, as we’ve seen with Siya Kolisi with the Springboks; instead of just letting him take all the responsibility and making the decisions, should Dobson opt to let him retain the captaincy.
Do the basics well again
There is no way that a team that had a 90-plus success rate in scrums and line-outs suddenly becomes bad at it overnight.
And this has been their Achilles heel in their back-to-back defeats to the Sharks.
Andre-Hugo Venter and JJ Kotze aren’t suddenly bad hookers, but they need to start coming to the party; otherwise, Lukhanyo Vokozela will end up leaving with the girl for the next location, and the former will be fighting to take her less attractive friend home.
Of course, it’s more than just throwing the ball in and finding your jumpers. It’s timing, communication, and accuracy from the hooker, the lifters, and the jumpers, but the player in the No.2 jumper is the key cog in that chain of events.
More Matthee and Khan combo
Back to my first point, and again this is not an attack on Feinberg-Mngomezulu, but 20 minutes here and 10 minutes there won’t do Jurie Matthee and Imad Khan any favours when they’ll need to step up against the likes of an Ulster, Glasgow Warriors, or even Cardiff, be it through injuries or Springbok resting protocols.
Khan looks like the real deal, but his growth won’t be aided with limited game time off the bench or a full clash in an experimental team in the Champions Cup, as we’ve seen against Harlequins.
Drop non-performing players
Harsh? Maybe, but that’s the reality.
I can’t pitch up at the office, make a ton of mistakes that’s costing the company money, and expect my full salary on payday without being punished in some form.
Warrick Gelant’s brain fart took the game away from the Stormers when he failed to dot the ball down in his in-goal area, allowing Jaco Williams to score a decisive try.
At this level, it’s inexcusable. Gelant has been off form for some time, and it’s maybe time Dobson makes the call to drop him and back a younger player to step up.
If one is about to lose something, they’ll work twice as hard to retain it or get it back. No one is irreplaceable, and sometimes one has to be cruel to be kind, and this counts for all underperforming players, not just Gelant.
