VIDEO: The 'crazy' reason why Stormers will go 'full metal jacket' in Belfast
The ‘crazy’ number of permutations in the mad dash for places in the United Rugby Championship play-offs have forced the Stormers to play their best team against Irish powerhouse Ulster this coming Friday.
After away wins over the Bulls (19-16 at Loftus Versfeld) and Scarlets (29-17 at Parc y Scarlets), the Cape Town franchise is sitting pretty in eighth place on the standings – with their destiny in their own hands.
They now travel to Belfast, in Northern Ireland, where they tackle Ulster in another crunch match at Ravenhill Stadium.
The Stormers (on 33 points) have five teams within a single win behind them – starting with Ulster (their opponents on Friday) and Benetton (both on 32 points), Edinburgh and Connacht (both 31), as well as the Lions (30).
Dobson said his team is ‘heading in the right direction’ and singled out the Round 12 win at Loftus earlier this month as a “big turning point” for the team.
Star playmakers Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Damian Willemse are expected to be better after their first game back from injury last week.
“We have a short turnaround,” Dobson said, adding: “Ulster is a tough place on a Friday night.
“We targeted one win from our two matches on tour and got five points at the start.
“If we get some points at Ravenhill and then have a home run [of matches against Connacht, Benetton, Dragons and Cardiff], we will be hard in the [play-off] mix at the end.
“The last two wins were essential to reach the play-offs. We won’t finish as high as we wanted, in terms of a home play-off, but there is a good feeling in the camp.”
(WATCH as Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson talks about his team’s crazy run-in to the URC play-offs…..)
With a two-week break – the Stormers are out of the European play-offs – they will go ‘full metal jacket for the Belfast face-off.
Apart from enforced changes – Neethling Fouche coming in for Frans Malherbe (compulsory rest), Suleiman Hartzenberg back from injury and a replacement for the concussed Deon Fourie – it will be a very similar team to the one that knocked Scarlets over last Saturday.
“It is not a tour where we want to give guys caps,” Dobson said.
Dobson said they are now regretting some of the losses and bonus points not collected earlier in the season.
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“Those losses on tour and bonus points we didn’t get is coming back to bite [us] now,” he told @rugby365com.
“It is an exciting run-in.
“I have done a permutations scenario and it spits out so much crazy stuff.
“I would be anxious if it wasn’t for that run of home games we have.
“It is going to very, very tight.
“If we win four out of our last five games we should be okay.
“The frustration for me is that we won’t host a quarterfinal.”
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