Stormers aim to blitz Glasgow with their ‘bomb squad’ in URC quarterfinal

The Stormers will be looking to blitz United Rugby Championship (URC) defending champs Glasgow Warriors with their own “bomb squad” when the teams collide in their quarterfinal encounter at the Scotstoun Stadium in Scotland on Friday night (kick-off 8:35pm).

The Cape challengers have named a very strong team for the match, making 10 changes to their starting lineup from the side that comfortably beat Cardiff in Cape Town two weeks ago, and also named a 6-2 split of forwards to backs on the bench.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is back starting at flyhalf, Warrick Gelant and Evan Roos have returned after being rested, and a number of changes have been made to the pack.

Manie Libbok and Herschel Jantjies will provide the backline cover on the bench, while a front five of Vernon Matongo, Joseph Dweba, Sazi Sandi, JD Schickerling, Connor Evans, along with loose forward Louw Nel will look to explode off the bench in the second half.

Confident plan

Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson is confident of the plan they have put in place for the match, and even though the 6-2 split has cost them in past seasons, he believes it will assist them against Glasgow.

“(In the past) it has come back to bite us. But this season it has worked more than it has failed. It’s going to be a tight game and we have two Springbok backs (Libbok and Jantjies) on the bench,” explained Dobson.

“Manie can cover 10 and 15, Sacha can cover pretty much the whole backline, Dan (du Plessis) can move to 13, Suleiman (Hartzenberg) can move to wing. So in a game like this I didn’t really want to have an (extra) back as a reserve.

“But if we finish that game with Louw Nel covering whoever is tiring of the loose forwards, and Conner and JD Schickerling covering lock. Then we have Joseph Dweba, Vernon Matongo and Sazi Sandi in the front row. I think that is a massive impact for our pack.

“So that’s our plan, to bring that impact. Because the 4G (pitch) does require a lot of running and the pack is most likely to tire. If we didn’t have that multiskilled covering in the backline a 5-3 split would definitely be less risky.”

Glasgow losing streak

The Stormer have lost their last four straight games against Glasgow Warriors, and have been poor travellers in the URC, but with them currently on a four game winning run, and having won six of their last seven matches, Dobson is extremely confident heading into the tough clash.

“Our away record has been poor and it’s not something you would expect from the Stormers. Historically, way before my time, the Stormers travelled well. So we haven’t done as well as we would have liked (on the road),” said Dobson.

“But I haven’t felt the mood in the camp (away from home) like this for a long time. It has been building over the last few weeks. There is a real sense of joy, excitement and confidence. It feels very different to last year where we felt we were on the back foot for a couple of reasons.

“This year it is real, genuine excitement for this game. We are optimistic and we would feel very disappointed if we don’t get over the line, because we have a really good feeling about this game.”