Jonathan Roche will play alongside some experienced men in Gqeberha.
Rising midfield talent Jonathan Roche will get a big chance to impress in a Stormers jersey when he starts at inside centre against French giants La Rochelle in their Champions Cup second round match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday.
The 22-year-old has already featured in a couple of big games for the Stormers, particularly last season when he played against Racing 92 and Leinster, although both those games were with weakened teams, that they lost.
This weekend he will line up with a close to full strength Stormers team, outside star Springbok flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, and inside experienced veteran centre Ruhan Nel, as they look to get a second win in the competition, after downing Aviron Bayonnais in France over the past weekend.
First game
Roche played his first game of the season in their 26-17 win in Bayonne, at outside centre, with Dan du Plessis at 12, but with him having picked up a knee injury that has ruled him out of action for about two months, it gives the young gun a chance to shine.
“Dan Dup is out, Damian (Willemse) is out, and JL (Jean-Luc du Plessis) is out. We could’ve gone with Ruhan (Nel) at 12 and Wandi (Simelane) at 13, which has worked well this season, but we think Jonny has something special,” explained Director of Rugby John Dobson about the selection.
“It might be completely unscientific, but you can just see him in that game making a tackle break, and his defence is outstanding. It’s going to be a physical game. He has no respect for his own body and he has x-factor.
“Wandi has done a great job for us, but Dan could be out for a couple of months. We need to build capacity there (in the midfield) going into the (URC) derbies (against the Lions and Bulls next week and in early January). So we wanted to give Jonny a spin, and we think he is going to be great.”
Injury update
In better news for the Stormers they will be welcoming some big names back over the coming month, with Willemse, Ruben van Heerden and Suleiman Hartzenberg all expected to be back next week ahead of their URC clash against the Lions in Cape Town.
Further reinforcements are then set to return next month with Dobson saying: “At the back end of January we should get Deon (Fourie), Keke Morabe and JL back. The only one I think that is a bit longer is Seabelo (Senatla), I think he is back in March.”
This will be the third time that the Stormers host La Rochelle in South Africa in the Champions Cup, with them having beaten them 21-20 in the pool stage of the 2023-24 edition, but then lost to them 22-21 in the last 16, both games in Cape Town, so another close encounter could be on the cards.
