Opportunity beckons for Stormers against Toulon

As their name suggests, buffeting winds, driving rain and rough seas have mostly been the order of the day this season.

Their home ground near Table Bay, however, has proved a fortress for the Stormers, and the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha is likely to be a home-from-home for the Cape Town team who welcome Toulon on Saturday.

Three-time Champions Cup victors Toulon breezed into Gqeberha this week on the back of four wins from their past five matches, though their 57-5 defeat to Toulouse would have taken some wind out of their sails.

Still, their form is solid and their four wins from their past 10 away matches suggest they can’t be typecast as another poor Top14 traveller.

The Stormers are unlikely to over-analyse the visitors. Two wins from six matches in the United Rugby Championship has placed them on the back foot. Their dramatic defeat to the Sharks in Durban was an opportunity missed to get a foothold in that competition but they did not leave Durban entirely downcast.

They ran the star-studded Sharks close and one of the areas in which they stood their ground was in the scrum.

The Stormers have been beset by injury and big-name absentees in the shape of Frans Malherbe and Steven Kitshoff from their front row have done little to advance their cause.

Kitshoff was always going to be a long-term casualty at loosehead but the void has been filled, perhaps better than many had expected, by Ali Vermaak.

Forwards coach Rito Hlungwani said though he has big boots to fill, Vermaak has been putting his best foot forward.

“From a coaches’ point of view, we’re happy with how Ali Vermaak performed coming back. He hasn’t played in a long time and we thought he looked in good shape. Played against two Springboks — we thought he operated well,” said Hlungwani about Vermaak’s performance against the Sharks.

“Ali is highly experienced. He started playing for Province when I was still a player. That’s why I call him madala — he’s highly experienced, played in a lot of games, won Currie Cups, played Super Rugby, so an experienced player.

“Having a guy like that in your squad is helpful in creating competition at training, in speeding up, learning off the younger looseheads — such as Leon Lyons, Sazi [Sandi], who scrums against him a lot, Vernon Matongo who’s also a loosehead — and also to put pressure on guys such as Neethling [Fouché] if he scrums against him.

“A good individual to have in our system and very underrated, considering he’s played a lot of games against proper tightheads and he’s dominated most of the time. We’re happy with the condition he’s come back in and we have to give credit to our rehab staff.”

This weekend Vermaak may find himself packing down against England tighthead Kyle Sinckler. Sinckler, who joined Toulon earlier this year, featured in last weekend’s win at Perpignan and may be rested or used sparingly this weekend.

Either way, the scrum is an area the Stormers will seek to assert themselves. There are, however, several facets of their game that demand greater consistency if they are going to feature in knock-out matches next year.

They may have limited ambitions in the Champions Cup, but this weekend’s clash against Toulon presents them the opportunity to restore belief and create festive buzz.