The Stormers are languishing in 12th position on the United Rugby Championship log, and are missing several influential Springboks for Saturday’s much-anticipated clash against the Bulls.
In fact, the Pretoria side are clear favourites to emerge victorious at the Cape Town Stadium (2pm start), considering that they have many of their star players available and are sitting pretty in third position on the standings.
But their wily old coach, Jake White, has seen this movie too many times before in his illustrious career, and was not falling for what he called a “trap” of taking the Stormers lightly.
John Dobson’s team tend to draw on the energy from their fanatical supporters, who will arrive in droves to the 55 000-capacity arena, as well as an innate never-say-die attitude when it comes to squaring off with the Bulls, whenever they face White’s side.
The challenge for the Bulls, then, is being able to step into that cauldron and still produce their best rugby under pressure – which hasn’t always happened at the Cape Town Stadium, most notably in the 2022 URC final.
“I can walk into a trap here... I am looking forward to this game. Yes, there is a completely different dynamic. Whichever way you look at it, where we and the Stormers are on the log, it hasn’t been like this for a long time,” White said.
“Generally over the years, the Stormers have been either above us or close to us on the log.
“With players out in both sides... but the injuries (or guys out) are Kurt-Lee Arendse, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortjé, Johan Goosen... we’ve got five Springboks out as well.
“I will just say that playing in Cape Town is very difficult. I remember the Sale Sharks here a couple of weeks ago, played almost the same time on a Saturday afternoon, and a lot of people didn’t expect Sale Sharks to lose 40-0.
“So, it would be very naive and short-sighted of us to say things are different and they are at the bottom and we’re at the top, and therefore we should win the game – I’m not going to get sucked into that.
“It’s always tough to win here. We’ve had the worst record against the Stormers here out of all the (SA) franchises, and it’s important for us to make sure that we play well tomorrow.
“If we play well, I’ll be more happy – because I realised that if we play well tomorrow, we’ll win.”
The Bulls boss made some big selection calls, with Willie le Roux at flyhalf, JF van Heerden at No 5 lock and Reinhardt Ludwig at blindside flank.
The most eye-catching, though, was that of Jan-Hendrik Wessels at loosehead prop ahead of another Springbok, Gerhard Steenekamp.
Wessels has operated at No 1 and 2 in his senior career, and will face arguably the biggest test of his scrummaging abilities against Bok stalwart Frans Malherbe.
“Massive test – he is scrumming against Frans Malherbe. But when I made that selection, people sometimes lift their eyebrows,” White said.
“But he’s played a Test match against Australia with Grobbies (Johan Grobbelaar) at hooker, so the two of them have played international rugby together.
“So, I’m fully confident. He’s grown as a player, and is too good a player to leave in the stands.
“The two hookers (Grobbelaar and Akker van der Merwe) are playing really well, and he has played a lot at prop anyway.”
Asked by Independent Media exactly why it’s “tough” for the Bulls to win in Cape Town, White responded: “Whatever team the Bulls bring, they get up for it.
“There’s two ways of looking at it: you can respect the fact that they do that, but also, it’s a great honour for us as a club.
“If it means when we come here, teams take a step up and want to beat us badly, then we are in a position we want to be.
“As a coach of a big union like the Bulls, it makes me really happy as it tells me you take us seriously and see it as a massive game.
“I hope that this fixture stays like this forever. That’s why I’m in coaching – the 53 000 people tomorrow. I can’t wait to get there. It’s almost like Test rugby, and it’s why we coach.
“These games are the ones that get you excited. These are the games that make you get up in the morning and look forward to the day.”
Bulls Team
15 Devon Williams 14 Canan Moodie 13 David Kriel 12 Harold Vorster 11 Sergeal Petersen 10 Willie le Roux 9 Embrose Papier 8 Cameron Hanekom 7 Reinhardt Ludwig 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain) 5 JF van Heerden 4 Cobus Wiese 3 Wilco Louw 2 Johan Grobbelaar 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Bench: 16 Akker van der Merwe 17 Gerhard Steenekamp 18 Francois Klopper 19 Ruan Vermaak 20 Nizaam Carr 21 Zak Burger 22 Boeta Chamberlain 23 Sebastian de Klerk.
Stormers Team
15 Warrick Gelant 14 Ben Loader 13 Wandisile Simelane 12 Dan du Plessis 11 Leolin Zas 10 Jurie Matthee 9 Stefan Ungerer 8 Evan Roos 7 Ben-Jason Dixon 6 Deon Fourie 5 Ruben van Heerden 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain) 3 Frans Malherbe 2 Joseph Dweba 1 Sti Sithole.
Bench: 16 André-Hugo Venter 17 Brok Harris 18 Sazi Sandi 19 Gary Porter 20 Marcel Theunissen 21 Herschel Jantjies 22 Jonathan Roche 23 Clayton Blommetjies.