Stormers are not dwelling on Willemse’s absence

One of the most positive impressions to come out of the DHL Stormers camp on the first press conference call of the buildup week to Saturday’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship quarterfinal in Glasgow is that they don’t appear to be dwelling on the loss of Damian Willemse.

The Springbok utility back was red carded at the three quarter mark of the final league game against Cardiff in Cape Town 11 days ago for an illegal tackle and, as was widely expected, he was slapped with a three match suspension that will rule him out of Friday night’s clash with Glasgow Warriors at the Scotstoun.

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If the Stormers win that game he will also miss the semifinal, which will probably be against Leinster in Dublin. There is a chance he would be available for the final should they get, with everything hinging on him doing corrective training, or tackle school as it is known.

But the Stormers aren’t looking that far ahead - they haven’t beaten Glasgow since the inaugural URC season, when the Scottish team was playing under a different coach, and they have never won at the Scotstoun. 

They will have taken some confidence from the fact that most of the losses have been close ones, and even those that were won by more than a score by Glasgow were usually games that were in the balance heading into the final quarter.

“I usually get on these interviews and talk about learning from mistakes but we have looked at our previous games against Glasgow as a collective and what we have got from that is that there hasn’t been that much to choose between the teams,” said Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani from Glasgow.

“The scores have never been big and the last time we lost to them we missed four kicks at poles. I would not say that watching those games and noting how competitive they were has given us more motivation but it does give us confidence that we can do it (beat them) if we are at the top of our game.”

CLOSE TO INTENDED TEMPLATE

Hlungwani probably knew he was stating the obvious when he said the Stormers have got themselves a lot closer to their intended template over the past two months, particularly in the home run of four games leading to the end of the league season.

“Over the past few games we felt like we played like we want to play and have set out to play,” said the assistant coach.

“We have implemented what we call the Stormers template. We want to get better at that and be ready for what Glasgow bring to the table.”

The success that the Stormers have had with their exciting, attacking brand of rugby has had a lot to do with Willemse, who has been a constant presence during the winning run that ended the regular season.

However, as Hlungwani noted, the Stormers have also had some good fortune in the sense that Manie Libbok’s return to fitness just happens to coincide with Willemse’s absence.

And as he reminded us, the Stormers don’t rely on just one extraordinarily gifted X-factor player.

“Obviously it is unfortunate to lose someone of Damian’s quality but as we always say, when injury or suspension prevent one player from playing it presents a nice opportunity for the next person to put his hand up,” said Hlungwani.

“We are fortunate to have good players who can cover both 15 and 12 (the two positions Willemse has played in recent games). Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) is very comfortable at No 12. He has played a lot of his rugby for us there and we look at him as an extra playmaker. So it is a happy accident for us that Manie is now back.

“Warrick (Gelant) didn’t play the last game for us against Cardiff but he will be playing against Glasgow so we don’t have a problem at fullback. Dan du Plessis is of course another experienced centre who is in good form, Wandisile Simelane is playing well and has X-factor, and Suleiman Hartzenberg is also in excellent form. So although we have lost Damian we do feel we have adequate cover at the back.”

It is a pity that Stormers director of rugby won’t get to see his perfect backline configuration of Libbok and Feinberg-Mngomezulu playing alongside each other in the 10/12 axis and Willemse wearing the No 13 jersey signifying outside centre.

But what Hlungwani says is correct - Willemse is a world class player and of course his absence hurts, but most other teams would envy the Stormers for the talent they do have available at the back.

And Hartzenberg, who scored two tries and tormented and toyed with the Cardiff defence in his 50th game at just the age of 21, is a case in point when you’re discussing the Stormers’ potential to tear apart any team.

Glasgow recovered some form when they lost narrowly to Leinster in their final league game but they will regard the Stormers as dangerous. If they don’t it could be to their cost.

The Stormers team for the quarterfinal will be announced on Thursday.