The Stormers will receive a major boost with the return from injury of regular captain Ruhan Nel, for their United Rugby Championship (URC) quarterfinal clash against Cardiff in Cape Town next weekend.
He heads a group of about five or six players who are in the frame to return from varying spells out, in their most important match of the season.
Nel missed the Stormers’ final two pool games, a draw with Ulster in Belfast and a 22-16 loss against their quarterfinal opponents in Cardiff, although he was fit to play in that match, before team management chose not to risk him.
Feeling good
“I am feeling very good. I trained the whole week with the boys in Cardiff. Training is a more controlled environment, so if something pops up the medical staff can pull you there, whereas in a game it’s a little bit more uncontrolled,” explained Nel.
“Especially with a six-two split on the bench, an early injury can really cause some disruption in a match. But I have been good, training has been going well, I have been increasing the (training) load, so I am really excited to get going.”
Despite the disappointment of seeing them slip from top of the URC log down to third, after struggling in their last two pool games, Nel said that securing a home playoff was the first goal, and from here anything can happen.
“This is obviously what we have been working for the whole season (a home playoff). Obviously we would have loved to have a semi and a final at home as well. But I think a quarterfinal here is the first step towards winning the trophy,” said Nel.
“So we are extremely excited for the match. We are very disappointed not to get that home semi (if Leinster beat the Lions in their quarterfinal as expected), but a home quarterfinal in front of our faithful supporters is always special.
“Quite a few times you will play a team in the last round of the round robin stages, and then you get them two weeks later in a quarterfinal as well.
“So that is probably good because we can learn from our mistakes and we can probably do some of the things better that we were unable to implement against them in the last game, and we are really looking forward to that rematch.”
Come out
Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson concurred with his captain, and called for the Cape Town faithful to come out in their numbers to help the team get through to the next round.
“We love the vibe that we have in the stadium now and the interaction with our fans, which is fantastic and when the team feels that, they play better, and if we play better the fans will enjoy it more,” explained Dobson.
“It is sort of a virtuous circle. So I ask that you (the fans) come out (in your numbers), because it’s going to be one hell of a game.
“It’s at a great time of day at 3:30, it’s knock out rugby for the Stormers and we believe we have a group here that can go very far in this competition. If one or two results go our way we might play one or two more knockout games in Cape Town, but please help us get through this one.”
