How the Boks' blueprint helped the Stormers evolve

INTERVIEW: Learning from the best examples around you is one of life’s greatest gifts, and that’s exactly what the Stormers are striving for by implementing lessons from the world-champion Springboks.

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus famously deployed a six-two forward-heavy replacement bench split during the 2019 World Cup, including the Final, which proved to be a masterstroke as the Boks claimed a comprehensive 32-12 win over England.

Initially, that tactic had tongues wagging in the rugby fraternity, but as time went on, several international and club teams started going that route to the point where it’s become the norm in the modern game.

The Stormers are no exception; they’ve deployed the same tactic in the last couple of seasons, which includes their last two United Rugby Championship matches against Edinburgh and the Sharks.

Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson admitted that it’s a game model the Capetonians are looking to deploy on a regular basis.

“The Springboks have done some cutting-edge stuff over the last couple of years,” Dobson told the press on Tuesday.

“We took some lessons, like having two locks on the bench is a nice formula with the six-two split.”

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Dobson explained the importance of balance and versatility when selecting a replacement bench of that nature.

“But you do need the hybrid; we got Deon Fourie [covering hooker and flank] and Hacjivah [Dayimani] has done a lot of work to move onto the wing.

“So those are some things we took from the national team; there’s actually some stuff we did today [Tuesday] in training.

“It’s useful to have a national team that’s an example to us in that regard.”

The Stormers announced their team early in the past couple of weeks, but Dobson said it had nothing to do with the Springboks’ way of doing the same thing.

“The Springboks operate at the top of the world rugby table, but it’s not necessarily the case of copying them in that regard.

“There could also be some elements of the Fijian sevens side we might like, for instance, that we can implement.

“Obviously having a national team that’s so successful at the moment is easy to copy in all aspects, but the early team announcements have nothing to do with trying to be like the Springboks.

“We’re just trying to give our fans a reason to come to the stadium by letting them know who is playing, and allow them to plan their weekends and let them decide if it’s a game they want to watch live.

“It’s not a tactic to emulate the Boks’ style of announcing a team early and send a message to the opposition to tell them they should come and try and beat us, which is a great statement as well.

“It’s fantastic; we’re sitting in the rugby world at the moment where South Africa is the best rugby country, and it’s an enormous pride.

“The more we work together and draw inspiration from each other, the better, and it’s fantastic.”

Dobson added the value the Boks bring to the URC sides in terms of selecting players with a handful of franchise caps.

“I’ll be honest, to give an example – if it wasn’t for the Boks backing Zachary Porthen, I’m not sure we would’ve pushed him as far as the Boks did.

“It’s great for him, and he came back to the Stormers a different player, so we’re working nicely together in that respect.”

The Stormers will open their Champions Cup campaign against Bristol Bears at DHL Stadium on Saturday.