Dobson: It's a critical time for us
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John Dobson said Saturday's derby clash at Cape Town Stadium is an absolute 'must win' for the DHL Stormers' prospects in the Vodacom URC and Investec Champions Cup.
The Stormers, the only South African side in the URC outside of the top eight on the standings, will host the Lion when the competition returns in round 8.
Dobson's charges will look to make the most of their home-ground advantage, although they have only won two of their six URC fixtures to the Pride's strike rate of four as many matches.
Speaking in a Stormers team announcement conference on Friday, Dobson emphasised the importance of this week's showdown in a busy festive period for the Capetonians, who host the Sharks next week before a visit from Sale Sharks in the EPCR on 11 January.
"It's must wins; if we get these two [wins against the Lions and Sharks] we're in a much healthier place in the URC – we make a joke that it’s our second-best URC start, but that's not a good stat or stat to be proud of. It's critical," he told reporters.
"We knew Harlequins would be tough, and after 72 minutes I still thought we could beat Toulon, but then we gave away a yellow card.
"To stay in Europe two wins can keep us alive, but the next three [matches] are absolutely critical."
The Stormers have been battling injuries to several key players and results haven't gone their way, so the return to action of Springboks Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Manie Libbok, Ben-Jason Dixon, Frans Malherbe and skipper Deon Fourie is a boost.
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"It's not all of them back – there's still Kitsie [Steven Kitshoff], Damian [Willemse], Evan [Roos] – but it's a lot back and that's great," Dobson said.
Libbok and Feinberg-Mngomezulu start at flyhalf and inside centre, respectively, and the Stormers boss is excited about the 10-12 combination for this week.
"The logic is our top 12s are probably Dan [du Plessis] and Damian, and they're both injured," Dobson explained. "Jean-Luc [du Plessis] did a reasonably good job there the last two weeks but if we'd stuck with JL then one of Manie or Sacha would go to the bench, and they're both Springboks and really good players.
"We want to drive this game, we want to get territory, which I think is very important for this game against the Lions.
"The last few games of ours, teams have been scoring off our errors, and that's probably because we've been making mistakes in the wrong part of the field.
"So having a 12 who's also a general with the ability to kick with both feet properly is a big part of our game and plan for tomorrow."
The Lions travel to Cape Town on Saturday in fifth place on the URC table and off the back of a big victory against Pau at Ellis Park, their first win in the EPCR Challenge Cup this season.
On what the Stormers expect from Ivan van Rooyen's troops, Dobson said: "We know the Bulls and Sharks, their power is the budgets and that sort of thing, so what I give the Lions credit for is their sum exceeds their parts.
"They’re a gritty team; they go to Leinster away and they fight. I give credit to what they've done, it's not an easy environment in some respects.
"I do have respect for the Lions and the way they fight and I've no doubt they'll bring that tomorrow."
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
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