Sometimes you’ve got to cut your suit according to your cloth, and for the Stormers that might mean going totally against their DNA to pull off a vital United Rugby Championship victory over the Ospreys in Swansea tonight (8.35pm start).
It might just be the first game of the tournament for the Capetonians, but they know what a defeat on tour could lead to.
It was a disastrous four losses in a row on their European trip last season as they went down to Glasgow (20-9), Benetton (20-17), Munster (10-3) and Cardiff 31-24.
They are expecting difficult weather and surface conditions in Swansea tonight, so despite having Springbok star Damian Willemse at fullback after his lengthy injury layoff, as well as strike-runners such as Suleiman Hartzenberg and Leolin Zas out wide, the visitors will have to rein themselves in a bit and play a tighter game.
The Ospreys got the better of the Stormers with a 27-21 win in Cape Town last April, and the 2022 champions are determined to avoid a similar fate in Wales tonight.
“We lost at home to them last season, and it was probably our poorest result – probably up there with losing to the Lions at home. They will be up for the fight and fought their way through the Challenge Cup,” Stormers coach John Dobson said from Swansea yesterday.
“It might not be a steady, flowing game that we might get in South African conditions, as there is a lot of rain here at the moment and it’s an open field.
“So, we’ve got to be prepared to win ugly. We might not get the flow that we want on attack, but it’s certainly a huge pack of forwards and we’ve got the ability to be physical and the ability to move them around.
“We’ve got a lot of respect for what they’re doing in a tough environment, but that defeat really hurt us a lot at DHL Stadium.
“That will be a driving factor, and we looked at their game last week and the friendly against Exeter, so we’ve got a few plans.
“(Attack coach) Dawie Snyman’s come up with some really nice stuff on attack this season, to give us more options. We felt that we didn’t get much flow last season, for lots of reasons – one of which was the poor start on the tour, which put us under a lot of pressure for the rest of the season. We are desperate to avoid that tomorrow.”
Dobson believes a sizeable pack of forwards, which includes physical bruisers such as No 8 Keke Morabe, hooker Joseph Dweba and experienced English flank Dave Ewers, can establish the necessary front-foot ball for half-backs Paul de Wet and Jurie Matthee, as well as Willemse to weave their magic.
“It will have to be a bit more pragmatic tomorrow. But if you look at a pack with Ruben van Heerden and JD Schickerling, and Dave Ewers, Keke Morabe, these are big people,” Dobson said.
“We’ve got a couple of nines who understand how to control the territory, and Jurie probably suits these conditions.
“The most important thing tomorrow is not to delight Cape Town with the brand of rugby, but to start with a win.”
New captain Dan du Plessis added that despite the absence of their Springboks and other injured stars such as Steven Kitshoff, Evan Roos, Deon Fourie and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, the Cape side have enough firepower to emerge victorious.
“The key is that we have to get a good start against the Ospreys, to start the tour on the right note,” the No 12 said.
“Last season, things didn’t go the way we wanted them to go. But I think we’ve got everything in our artillery to go three out of three on this tour.
“There are a couple of guys at home and big names in Evan, Deon Fourie, Sacha as well.
“But the guys over here are more than enough, and we believe in them to take us through the whole season.”
Stormers Team
15 Damian Willemse 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg 13 Ruhan Nel 12 Dan du Plessis (captain) 11 Leolin Zas 10 Jurie Matthee 9 Paul de Wet 8 Keke Morabe 7 David Ewers 6 Marcel Theunissen 5 Ruben van Heerden 4 JD Schickerling 3 Neethling Fouché 2 Joseph Dweba 1 Sti Sithole.
Bench: 16 André-Hugo Venter 17 Leon Lyons 18 Brok Harris 19 Adré Smith 20 Ben-Jason Dixon 21 Stefan Ungerer 22 Jean-Luc du Plessis 23 Angelo Davids.