The poem that turned Stormers' season around

SPOTLIGHT: Stormers coach John Dobson turned to poetry and a Greek myth to take his team from ‘no-hopers’ to a place in the inaugural United Rugby Championship Final.

The Stormers will host the Bulls in an all-South African grand finale in Cape Town on Saturday.

Their 2021/22 season started late last year with the Stormers’ sole shareholder, the Western Province Rugby Football Union, in financial and political disarray.

The players were uncertain about their salaries, while the departure of some high-profile Springboks like Siyamthanda Kolisi and Mbongeni Mbonambi and the loss of the historical Newlands Stadium through administrative incompetence resulted in a move to the Cape Town Stadium.

Even Dobson’s position was uncertain.

It resulted in the South African Rugby Union placing WPRFU under administration and suspending President Zelt Marais and his entire misfunctioning executive.

However, somehow Dobson managed to rally the team to a position where they have a shot at becoming the first URC champions.

But it’s a far cry from what Dobson describes as a very dark beginning for this team.

“It was dark,” Dobson said, adding: “Western Province was dying, no doubt about it.

“I had in my mind the Dylan Thomas line from his poem: ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’.

“It goes like this: ‘Rage, rage against the dying of the light’.

Pushing hard until we reach that finish line. 80 more minutes to go this season.#iamastormer #dhldelivers @Vodacom #URC pic.twitter.com/YE8Lqzax2m

— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) June 15, 2022

“And then there was the Greek myth of Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill. He’s known as the absurd hero. He was without hope, and his joy became defying that absence of hope.

“As a team, we [the Stormers] were 88-1 odds at the start of this competition and we told the players about the absurd hero that was Sisyphus.

“They took it on board and revelled in proving everybody wrong week in and week out,” Dobson added.

“It was a really tough time at the start of the season.

“I love Western Province rugby. I didn’t want to see it break down, but we were perilously close to what happened to the Southern Kings.

“And we were about to play the Bulls in one of the rounds and only to be called away from a training session to a management meeting to explain why you should remain as coach – that’s not constructive.

“There were meetings every week between the management and players. It became like a kind of game to try and keep the big players.

“We knew if we could just keep Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe, then we could secure Salmaan Moerat and Damian Willemse and others.

“It was literally done like that, to create a team that could compete. And that was all we thought we would do.

“We aimed for a top-eight placing this season. Our aim was to try and win this competition in 2024 only.

“Then we went on tour and realised, hang on, there is something we can do here. I think some of the South African teams went on that first UK tour and came back with massive doubts, but we organically just grew as a team and came back a much tighter group.”

There is no greater honour than being recognised by your fellow players. It has been some season for our @evanroos4.#iamastormer #dhldelivers @Vodacom #URC pic.twitter.com/sCJe5UtWql

— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) June 15, 2022

On the other side of the halfway line on Saturday will be a Bulls team that also knows well the feeling of being written off.

Languishing in 15th place after the opening four rounds, Jake White’s men clawed their way back and were then still given no hope against Leinster in the semifinal in Dublin.

However, they pulled off the seemingly impossible to set up their date with the Stormers in an all-South African Final.

For both teams, a victory on Saturday will be a triumph of unity against adversity, and everything the United Rugby Championship aims to represent.

For Dobson, though, it will feel like nothing short of a miracle from where they started.

And you can bet both the Stormers and the Bulls will not go gentle into this Saturday night in Cape Town.