John Dobson’s DHL Stormers are South Africa’s top Vodacom United Rugby Championship team. They will also offer the strongest South African challenge in the playoffs, especially if overseas travel is involved, writes Mark Keohane.
Steven Kitshoff is a superb leader and fellow Bok prop Frans Malherbe has been equally inspirational with the consistency of his performance. These two fine front row specialists have been at the heart of the Stormers march towards the play-offs.
The Stormers, on the eve of the tournament’s final round, need a bonus point win against the Scarlets to secure a home quarter-final and they also need for the Cell C Sharks to not get a bonus point win against Ulster in Belfast.
The Vodacom Bulls, who with some mathematical magic could finish second, are more likely to finish outside of the top four, regardless of their result against the Ospreys.
I’ve loved the back end of the inaugural URC because we’ve seen the improvement among South African teams as the players have settled and started to become familiar with match official interpretation and also with the various styles of the opposition from up north.
Leinster are a class act and comfortably a cut above the rest. Their have wonderful depth and it would take some good fortune and some fantastic display for any team to knock them over in the play-offs.
But that’s the beauty of sport, even the best can get beaten.
So there will always be hope – and for me the Stormers are that shining light among the South African teams.
I have thoroughly enjoyed their style of play and find them the most balanced of the South African teams. The Bulls, at home, are always strong but they do struggle to translate this mentality when on the road. The Sharks, boosted by several World Cup-winning players in the second half of the competition, have been a mixed bag.
The Sharks have won eight of their past nine matches but I never look at the Sharks and think they could win the competition. I look at the Stormers and think they could.
SA Rugby Magazine editor Zelim Nel and I previewed the SA teams’s matches this weekend, discussed the play-off permutations and also the strengths of each of the play-off participants.
Mark Keohane and Zelim Nel on the Vodacom URC Round 18
#Watch – @mark_keohane is backing the @BlueBullsRugby while @Zels77 thinks the men from Pretoria will fall short when they take on @ospreys in the @Vodacom #URC on Friday. pic.twitter.com/Jpg9pks1uT
— SA Rugby magazine (@SARugbymag) May 19, 2022
Watch – @mark_keohane and @Zels77 are not giving the Sharks much of a chance when they take on @UlsterRugby this Friday. pic.twitter.com/xWoDU4Sibm
— SA Rugby magazine (@SARugbymag) May 20, 2022
#Watch – @Zels77 and @mark_keohane are full of confidence that @THESTORMERS will come away with a win against @scarlets_rugby on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/gVc4rOy8n4
— SA Rugby magazine (@SARugbymag) May 20, 2022
The team is backing the @LionsRugbyCo to finish their @Vodacom #URC on a winning note with a narrow victory against @dragonsrugby on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/o4Z9kE7GZy
— SA Rugby magazine (@SARugbymag) May 20, 2022
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