It is a massive week for South African rugby as the Stormers and Bulls square up to the might of the Irish in two mouth-watering United Rugby Championship (URC) semifinals, one in Dublin on Friday night and the other in Cape Town on Saturday.
Quite obviously, Stormers coach John Dobson is sitting prettier than his Bulls counterpart Jake White, as they contemplate Ulster at Cape Town Stadium and Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, respectively.
This was reflected in their early week utterances, with Dobson saying the Stormers just need to stick to what they do best to have a good chance of winning, while White was almost plaintively appealing to the officials to be kinder to the visiting teams in this competition.
You can understand the Bull coach’s trepidation after Leinster – arguably the best provincial rugby team in the world – savaged Glasgow Warriors 76-14 at the Aviva Stadium in their quarter-final,and on Friday night there will be 52 000 fans back in that cauldron to see their team feast on the Bulls.
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After the Bulls had beaten the Sharks and the Durbanites had questioned some of Welshman Andre Brace’s refereeing decisions, White tactfully said: “If we were in the same situation in Durban, we would have felt the same pressure (from the crowd and the officials).
“That’s why getting a home playoff is important and it’s no different to any other sport where there’s a big crowd … There’s going to be pressure on the officiating because it (the crowd) is going to play on their minds. It’s a normal human reaction.
“I’m just hoping that this week (in Dublin), they will allow the away team to win.”
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Good luck with that one, White! For Dobson, there will be 25 000 locals at Cape Town Stadium whipping the Stormers into a frenzy and for them to go home happy, the coach says his team will adopt the adage: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Dobson was reacting to questions about the borderline recklessness of some of his players who were staying true to the adventurous approach that has so far served them most profitably, and it was suggested that maybe it was time for the Stormers to be a touch more conservative.
“Yes, it is something that obviously crosses through the mind, and it did a few times against Edinburgh,” Dobson said.
“There were times, like when Deon Fourie tried that off-load, and on another occasion when we tried a chip inside our own 22, where all of us coaches had our hearts in our mouths.
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“It was directly contrasting to the safety-first approach you’d expect in a high-stakes knockout game. But while some might think it reckless, it was that rugby and that ambition that has got us to where we are. We need to stay true to who we are.”
This view was reinforced by Edinburgh coach Mike Blair, who was in awe of some of the sublime attacking rugby of the Cape team.
“The Stormers string things together. When they do, I don’t think there’s a more dangerous team in terms of individuals. When they spark up and it connects, they can beat anyone,” said Blair.
The Bulls have, meanwhile, jetted out to Dublin with a 28-man squad that includes players that were under injury clouds in Simphiwe Matanzima, WJ Steenkamp, Bernard van der Linde and Kurt-Lee Arendse.
@MikeGreenaway67