VIDEO: Stormers piano 'movers and shifters' get license to thrill
Following a two-week break – for European play-offs – the United Rugby Championship dash to the play-offs goes into overdrive.
The Stormers find themselves in the unfamiliar position of looking from the outside of the play-off zone – sitting in 10th place.
However, on the flip side, they are just one point behind three teams ahead of them – Benetton, Edinburgh and Cardiff, all on 36 points.
Having won only two of their last six URC matches, the Stormers can console themselves in the fact that five of those encounters were played away from home.
The Stormers charge towards the play-offs start against Connacht this coming Saturday, April 19, followed by encounters with Benetton, Dragons and Cardiff on successive weekends.
(Continue below …)
Their record in Cape Town this season is won three, lost two.
They have also lost only twice to an Irish province at home, both to Munster in the 2022/23 campaign.
Fresh from a ‘fact-finding‘ trip to the South of France for some ‘personal development’ at French giants Stade Toulousain, Stormers’ Director of Rugby, John Dobson, said they will make some ‘adjustments’ for the next four rounds.
Like Stade Toulousain, the Stormers’ game model is about ‘transition play’ and Dobson believes their defence is one of the key aspects they will be looking at ahead of the quarterfinals.
“I was looking at how many phases it took us to get the ball back,” he told @rugby365com about having a closer look at the statistics – a critical part of the Stade Toulousain preparations.
“We need to get that part [winning the ball back] right.”
(WATCH as Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson explains their approach to the crucial next four weeks of URC action….)
The Stormers will also work on their off-loading game in training, to ensure the most efficient ‘system’ is in place.
“They try and avoid breakdowns, despite being a big French team.
“Generating faster ball, because of the backline players we have, is an important aspect to take out of it.”
Discipline is another key aspect, as penalties often result in 22-metre entries, with a higher conversion rate (points per entry) in the game.
“We were up there – behind Leinster, but up with Glasgow – for 22-metre entries.
“However, we have the lowest conversion [scoring points] from those entries.”
Speaking about his team’s offloading game and backs like Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Manie Libbok and Damian Willemse, Dobson said they will continue to rely on the ‘X-factor’ of those Springboks.
“There is a tax [risk] to that,” he told @rugby365com, adding: “We will back ourselves.
“Maybe there are one or two players who should not be doing it.
“Without naming any players, we should say to some: ‘Your job is to dent it up the middle’.
“The other guys, the ‘piano movers and shifters’ can do it.
“There is no way we ever want to box Warrick [Gelant], Damian [Willemse], Manie [Libbok]. They win us games.
“We are pretty relaxed about us forcing things.
“We are who we are. We are living by the sword, and perhaps this year we have died a bit more [by the sword].”
Dobson said the exchange of IP between coaches and teams is something they have engaged in for years.
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* Watch Part One: Toulouse and the French lessons
