Coach John Dobson has created something special in Cape Town with the Stormers.

On Friday, 23 December, DHL Stadium in Green Point was packed with 30,000 supporters draped in Stormers blue, howling encouragement as their side beat the Bulls 37-27 in a thrilling United Rugby Championship (URC) clash.

“I didn’t expect to have 30,000 people two days before Christmas,” said Stormers skipper Steven Kitshoff after the match.

“You can just see the flags and the cheer and how loud it was. The atmosphere at DHL Stadium was just electrifying.”

The people of Cape Town received their money’s worth, watching the home side run the visitors ragged in a five-minute blitz of three tries in the second half.

Exciting 19-year-old centre Suleiman Hartzenberg scored the pick of the exquisite tries, finishing off an 80-metre team effort that had backs and forwards interlinking like a Pandora bracelet.

Friday’s win takes the reigning champions to second on the URC log with one loss and one draw among their seven victories.

The Stormers have failed to get out of third gear in many of their early season matches – despite claiming the seven triumphs.

“I reckon that’s us at 70% of our operating capacity. I don’t think we’ve gone over that much this season,” said Dobson.

And while the Stormers seem only to be finding their championship winning stride now, the long-term planning and sacrifice has paid off for Dobson.

“Our plan up to the Dragons game [round nine of the URC] was to give as many guys caps as possible so we have depth. Then the next phase was cohesion which meant keeping the same team going. That was our plan,” said the coach.

Joseph Dweba of DHL Stormers during the United Rugby Championship match between DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls at DHL Stadium on 23 December 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Grant Pitcher / Gallo Images)

A special group with a sense of belonging

The cohesion Dobson speaks about extends further than the four white lines of the rugby field.

Outside centre Ruhan Nel – who suffered a leg injury last week against Cardiff – was in the stands at DHL Stadium on Friday and cheered in jubilation at every positive impact Hartzenberg – his replacement – made on the field.

“We’re trying to create a special group here with a sense of belonging, playing for the people of Cape Town, playing for each other,” said Dobson.

“[Injured] Salmaan Moerat has been at every training. He’s offered to help with lineouts while on crutches.

“That is the satisfaction I get, when I see Ernst van Rhyn, Gary Porter, Ruhan Nel congratulating guys that are playing in their place. Herschel Jantjies with a radio piece was basically coaching Paul de Wet throughout the whole game.

“That is what we try to do and that probably is one of the real highlights for me at the end of the day.”

Moerat’s anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury suffered against London Irish last weekend will keep him out of action for six to nine months. And lock is the position the Stormers could least afford injuries. Adre Smith, Porter and Van Rhyn are the other tall men already on the sidelines.

But the depth built by Dobson early in the season has resulted in players such as young lock Dixon slipping seamlessly into a crunch north-south derby against the Bulls.

Marvin Orie of DHL Stormers wins the lineout during the United Rugby Championship match between DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls at DHL Stadium on 23 December 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Grant Pitcher / Gallo Images)

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“Out of that team that won the URC final, we lost Evan Roos, Salmaan Moerat, Herschel Jantjies – who’s a Springbok – and we lost a guy called Warrick Gelant who people say was our playmaker last year,” said Dobson.

“We haven’t gone and spent lots of money or brought in lots of players. We’ve just brought in lots of youngsters such as BJ [Dixon] and Suleiman [Hartzenberg].”

Dobson has given his whole squad a run in the URC thus far and still has Sazi Sandi, Kade Wolhuter, Andre-Hugo Venter and the soon-returning Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu waiting in the wings to snap up their opportunity as Dixon and Hartzenberg did against the Bulls.

Last hurrah

The Stormers next face up to the Lions at DHL Stadium on Saturday, 31 December, the last match before the new year.

The previous meeting between the sides at the venue, on 4 December 2021, saw the Lions come away 19-37 victors.

That match is of great importance to both teams. It’s the last match the Lions won against South African opposition – they are currently on an eight-match losing streak.

It is also the last match the Stormers lost at DHL Stadium, making a fortress of their new home ground.

“We’ve gone over 300 days since we’ve lost here. We need to beat the Lions to make it the whole of 2022 and that’s really important to us … That is going to be a big driver for us as a coaching group this week,” said Dobson. DM