Stormers possess perfect armoury to upset Leinster

OPINION: The Stormers’ scrum dominance was the driving force behind their 44-21 United Rugby Championship quarterfinal mauling of Cardiff at Cape Town Stadium, and it will be just as crucial in their semifinal against Leinster in Dublin on Saturday.

The Stormers made up for their 16-22 let-down against Cardiff in the final round of the regular season by securing a convincing win against the Welsh side.

Their set-piece performance was at the heart of their victory at the weekend as they obliterated the visitors at scrum time, while their line-out also functioned well.

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The Welsh outfit were horrendous at the scrum, losing prop Keiron Assiratti in the 31st minute after conceding a string of scrum penalties.

Their line-out also misfired a few times, while the hosts used theirs effectively, with three of their six tries coming off the set-piece.

The Stormers had a 100 percent success rate at the scrums and conceded a solitary penalty at the set-piece, while Cardiff were penalised five times after packing down.

While the Stormers secured a place in the semifinal thanks to their efforts against Cardiff, the result didn’t come without a downside as they also lost one of their key men in the encounter.

Springbok flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu limped off the field after scoring a try, with head coach John Dobson afterwards saying the ankle injury looked “pretty serious”. The 24-year-old appears set to miss the next three months.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu is the leading points-scorer in the competition with 169 points. He is also fifth in the tries-scored column (10).

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His influence on attack is well known, and he has created valuable opportunities for the Stormers with his cross-kicks and offloading game.

Whether it’s going for the try line himself or setting up a teammate, he has consistently sparked something, while his astute tactical kicking game has also been vital.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu has often ranked among the top Stormers’ players in the metres-made, carries, and line break charts this season, while he has regularly relieved pressure by spotting and exploiting gaps to score tries where others only saw traffic.

While the Stormers certainly aren’t short on attack-savvy players, Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been their most prominent game-breaker.

That X-factor alone – and the fact that they will be without it for the foreseeable future – makes it a non-negotiable that the Stormers compensate in other areas against Leinster. The set-pieces are No.1 in that regard.

In their quarterfinal thumping of the Lions, the Irish giants fielded an international-laden side, with 16 of the 23-man squad having played Test rugby before, while only one player in their starting line-up – Scott Penny – has not played senior international rugby.

With such high-quality opposition, which prioritises a high-tempo attacking game and quick ball that can easily catch the opposition off guard and prove disruptive, applying their own strengths well will be crucial.

Leinster conceded three scrum penalties on Friday night, but even without considering their most recent performance at the set-piece, it is the one area where the Stormers are undeniably stronger than them. And they need to use that to their advantage.

No competitive team relies solely on one man, but the role that Feinberg-Mngomezulu plays for the Stormers cannot be underplayed.

The distance he gets with his kicks and how he can pin teams back, the way he creates and scores those out-of-nowhere tries, the way he exploits space, the way he instinctively pulls off plays so quickly and seemingly instinctively that one has to wonder if even he knew what he was going to do before he did it, the way he rattles opposition defences even if nothing comes of whatever he does, all of that has been key in the Stormers’ attack and, by extension, their success.

Without him, the Stormers’ powerhouse set-piece becomes even more important.

The Cape side have won the most scrum penalties in the competition by a mile, 62, while Leinster have only bagged 37.

Their line-out has also functioned better, and a presence like Ntuthuko Mchunu bulldozing around the maul and barging over defenders for a try as he did at the weekend will be a welcome sight.

If the Stormers can produce more of those visuals on Saturday – and ensure that they have Leister accelerating backwards at the scrum – they will make a daunting task at the Aviva Stadium much more manageable.