Johannesburg — As a former lock himself, it must have been quite an uneasy feeling for Rito Hlungwani to see the Stormers’ line-out so inconsistent last season.
But don’t fear, Stormers fans, it will be sorted out when the new United Rugby Championship (URC) season kicks off soon.
The champions from Cape Town will have to wait another week, though, as their opening encounter against the Sharks has been postponed to February next year.
So, John Dobson’s team will begin the defence of their title against Connacht in Stellenbosch on September 24 (2.30pm kick-off) — due to the Justin Bieber concert at Cape Town Stadium on September 28 — which will also see their next match against Edinburgh on October 1 being held there.
The Stormers are currently on camp in Wilderness in the southern Cape, and thrashed the SWD Eagles 94-7 in George last week. This Friday, they face the Sharks in a second warm-up game at Grey High School in Gqeberha.
But while the Cape outfit produced some sparkling rugby in going all the way to clinch the crown in a thrilling 18-13 triumph over the Bulls in the final, they know that they need to fix their line-out.
There were a number of factors that led to those issues, such as chief line-out-jumper Marvin Orie being part of the Springbok squad, and injuries to first-choice hooker Scarra Ntubeni and even the back-ups, such as JJ Kotze and Chad Solomon.
They have been bolstered by the signing of Springbok hooker Joseph Dweba, although he is unlikely to feature much in the URC until next year due to Test commitments.
But Hlungwani, speaking to IOL Sport at the URC South African season launch at Vodaworld in Midrand on Tuesday, was confident that the set-piece will be better in the 2022/23 season.
“From a line-out point of view, it took a while to click in. It got better towards the end, and we want to be consistent in terms of that,” the Stormers forwards coach said.
“It was a challenge. We lost Scarra, and then JJ was out and then he was back in. A 20-year-old André-Hugo Venter, who is still playing Under-20, had to come in.
“Chad Solomon got injured, so it was tough keeping up with those injuries. But our mindset now is that we need to make sure we have a contingency plan going forward — that if we come across a similar challenge, we are able to deal with it in a better way.
“Last year this time, when we started, Salmaan (Moerat) — who is a four lock — was developing his skills as a line-out-caller. So, it also makes a huge difference, as the pressure there is quite extreme.
“Now Marvin is around, so the picture will be slightly different. We will lose out somewhere in terms of not having Salmaan (who is in the Bok squad), but hopefully we will have him back soon. It does make a huge difference to have Marvin Orie around.”
It is a different dynamic for the Stormers in this pre-season as champions, having endured years of disappointment in Super Rugby, and it will be interesting to see if they continue to play their famous attacking style or bring contrasting elements to their game this time around.
“We have obviously spoken about that as a team, and our own focus is just to get better — the same way we improved during the course of last season. That’s where our mindset is now, just to improve. Take it one step at a time, and see how far we can go again,” Hlungwani said.
“We are preparing really well, lots of excitement. But just like any other pre-season, and we are striving just to improve.”
IOL Sport