The DHL Stormers will be looking to make amends for the low point of last season when they welcome the table-topping Hollywoodbets Sharks to Cape Town for a “Test match” showdown on Saturday.
John Dobson’s team were beaten twice by the Sharks in the Vodacom URC in the space of seven dark days back in January, losing 30-19 at home and then 36-24 in Durban a week later.
So they will be on a revenge mission at a packed DHL Stadium this weekend having selected a star-studded squad for the big South African derby.
“It was our low point of last season losing those two games to the Sharks,” admitted Dobson.
“We had the ignominy of losing to them at home. We didn’t even get a losing bonus point at home against a team that would have been lying tenth in the log or something.”
The Sharks will head for Cape Town in a very different spot in the league this time around.
They are currently sitting pretty at the top of the table as the only team to have picked up maximum points from the opening two rounds of Vodacom URC matches, beating the Ospreys (41-24) and champions Leinster Rugby (26-20) in Durban.
“It’s a confident Sharks team,” said Dobson.
“It’s Bok against Bok. It’s going to be one of those derbies.
“There are lots of reasons to buy tickets this week.
“Maybe last season we saw the Bulls as the big thing and were a bit soft on the Sharks. They weren’t flagged.
“I think this game is going to have the feel of a classic derby.
“I am not worried about raising the players. I am not worried about us being flat at all.
“It feels to me like a different group – highly motivated, focused, well led.”
Dobson has named eight Springboks in his starting XV, with the likes of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Damian Willemse, Cobus Reinach and Paul de Villiers coming into the side, while there are a further three on the bench.
“With the respect we are showing the derby, the respect we are showing the Sharks and on the back of last season, we have gone with the strongest team we could possibly go,” he said.
“We are pretty much at as full a roster as we could have hoped for.
“It’s one of those games that we dream about in the year, a local derby against a Sharks team that is doing really well.
“We are welcoming back all our guys we are so proud of from the Springboks team.
“It’s a local derby at the best time to play rugby, 4pm on a Saturday afternoon at a heaving DHL Stadium.
“It’s going to be something very special, so we are super excited.
“This is as good a local derby as you are going to get.
“If you look at the quality of players across both teams, these are the guys who were doing the country so proud a few weeks ago and now they are going toe to toe.
“It will be the very best of South African rugby. It will be like a Test match out there. It’s going to be a special occasion.”
The Stormers will also be looking to make amends for last weekend’s 17-13 defeat away to Edinburgh Rugby when the lineout proved their Achilles heel as they lost no fewer than 11 throw-ins.
“All our key stats were better than the week before against Connacht,” said Dobson.
“Tackle dominance, line speed, post contact metres, 22 conversion rate were all up from the win in Galway.
“There was just the one thing that went wrong.”
As for the likelihood of the lineout improving this week, he said: “I just think with the level of disappointment, frustration and desperation we felt, it will be better.
“It has to be. We will lose this game if we lose six-plus lineouts.
“The top two contesting teams in the competition are Edinburgh and the Sharks. It’s a challenge.”
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