Stormers ready to 'spin and win' at Stade Mayol

The Stormers have cemented their spot in the top two of the United Rugby Championship, but their next challenge is like scaling Mount Everest.

It was a case of mission accomplished for South Africa’s franchises as they completed their second successive clean sweep of home wins in another memorable and significant round of action in the cross-hemisphere showpiece.

The Stormers finish Round 14 in second place on the standings (51 points), behind the Glasgow Warriors (55), followed by Ulster (47) and Leinster (46), with the Lions in fifth position on 43 points.

With the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup knock-outs starting next weekend, the URC will have a brief hiatus before resuming with Round 15 on Friday, April 17.

The Stormers scored five tries on their way to a 33-14 win against Edinburgh at Cape Stadium at the weekend.

The bonus point win sees the Stormers stay in second place on the URC standings.

Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson said the ‘scrappy’ nature of the contest against a tricky Edinburgh team was the ‘reality of the dewy evening conditions’ inside the Cape Town Stadium.

“I must give [captain] Ruhan [Nel] and the team credit,” Dobson said, adding: “We had a plan.

“We won the scraps, and we won the kicking contest,” he said of the pre-planned tactics of not overplaying, with 85 kicks in play between the two teams, 45 by the home side.

“It is very much job done. It is a game where the process was better than the outcome”

Dobson admitted there were stages in the game where he was ‘nervous’ and his ‘heart rate climbing’, especially when the Scottish visitors took the lead (14-12) on the hour mark.

However, the focus immediately shifts to the trip to the South of France and an encounter with Toulon in the intimate setting of the 17,000-seater Stade Mayol.

* (WATCH as Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson reveals his team’s plans for their trip to France…..)

The passion for the game in the city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of southeastern France, located on the French Riviera, was best depicted when a Springbok training session at the 2023 World Cup attracted 10,000 spectators – a large chunk of them Cheslin Kolbe fans.

“We want to respect this competition [Champions Cup],” the Stormers boss said, adding: “No South African has reached the semifinals [in Europe’s premier franchise/club competition].”

Having worked hard on building more depth, he feels they have the ‘capacity’ to give both competitions a full crack.

“It is a really good Toulon team,” he said of the three-time European champions that have the likes of French players Charles Ollivon (a pivotal leader for both Toulon and France), Baptiste Serin, Melvyn Jaminet, Swan Rebbadj, Jean-Baptiste Gros and Teddy Baubigny on the roster.

“We are going to give a full crack.

“It will be a good experience for us.”

Asked what would be required for the Stormers to win at Stade Mayol, Dobson quipped: “Venus must align with Uranus and Saturn.”

He admitted the ‘speed’ of Toulon caught them unaware in their only previous meeting – a 14-24 loss to the French outfit at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in December 2024.

“They have a really good scrum, and they are fast,” Dobson said, adding: “It is a glitterati of a team.”

To win there, the Stormers will need to get the upperhand in the set-piece battle.

“We pride ourselves on our scrum.

“They win scrum battles every time and are No.2 [for scrum dominance] in France. That is important.”

Turning to tactics, he said: “We are going to have to ‘spin and win’.

“I don’t think we will be able to grind it out, like we did against Edinburgh, against that size [Toulon] pack.

“I do think the contestable game is an area we can trouble them a bit.

“We will have to get into the transition game if we want to win.”

The skipper, Ruhan Nel, said that the conversations he has had suggested it will be ‘quite an experience’.

“When we faced them in the Eastern Cape [Port Elizabeth], just to face a team of that magnitude, was a special occasion,” Nel said.

“To face them on their home field in front of their passionate supporters is an environment that we are looking forward to.”

Dobson described the trip to Toulon as comparable to ‘playing a game of bridge’ with the legendary late actor Omar Sharif.

@JanDKrugby
@rugby365com