Stormers’ 'PDF' formula that sparked turnaround
SPOTLIGHT: The Stormers’ statement victory at Loftus Versfeld has dramatically reshaped their outlook heading into the final stretch of the United Rugby Championship season.
While they already had the cushion of a run of home fixtures against touring sides to come, the manner in which they dismantled the Bulls in Pretoria has injected fresh belief and momentum into their campaign.
Now, as they prepare to host the Dragons at DHL Stadium on Sunday, the Stormers find themselves back among the top contenders on the log level on points with Ulster and Leinster and brimming with confidence as the race for the playoffs intensifies.
Stormers captain Ruhan Nell tried to explain what the team did to change their season around and how they went about it.
It came down to PDF. This is how he explained it during the post-match press conference.
“Post the three losses, our leadership group was dissecting what went wrong.
“We had a lot of group sessions, and once you start drifting away from basics, things start getting loose. It’s not broken, just loose,” Nell explained.
“And that obviously gives teams entry points.
“It’s probably just a couple of things we had to sharpen. The Stormers are always built on a great setpiece, a great defensive system, where guys could really chase kicks.
“And I felt, from me personally being injured, looking in from the outside, that is always so easy for us to give a ball to a Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezule] or Damain [Willemse] or Warrick [Gelant] and say ‘Do magic. Get us points.’
“But it’s actually the opposite. Those guys get going when the team is going forward, and everybody has a job to fulfill.
“It’s the old cliche of when you do the basics well. We just needed to get back to basics – setpiece, defend well, do the basics well. Through that, Stormers rugby just comes naturally for us.
“We were quite hard with one another on the training field coming into today [Saturday], and I felt the alignment between the boys was better, the communication was better, plans were flowing, and that translated.
“There was no real panic between us,” he said, adding, “So credit to everyone. We call it PDF – taking it from the boardroom and applying it on the field.”
His coach, John Dobson, agreed, adding, “The difference was also leadership. I made the mistake of making Sacha captain. I know why I did it; there was nobody else.
“And we had Deon Fourie. Who subbed himself.
“I can tell you. It’s a funny story. He said, ‘either I am coming off, or I am just going to walk off. It’s going to embarrass you okes.’
“But what a 30 minutes for a guy who has been out.
“I can’t give enough praise to the leaders who made the difference.”
