Stormers must avoid defence ‘chain reaction’ in vital Benetton URC clash

Continuity in selection could be what fires the Stormers to a win over Benetton in their third-last United Rugby Championship (URC) encounter at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

The Cape side currently occupy eighth place on the URC log, but a win over their Italian opposition could propel them into a more favourable knockout spot

With that in mind, director of rugby John Dobson opted not to tweak too much to the winning combination that triumphed over Connacht a week ago.

Only Leolin Zas steps into the starting line-up, replacing Suleiman Hartzenberg for the critical encounter at the DHL Stadium (6.15pm kick-off).

While Zas will add some needed fireworks on the attack, it’s his defensive work that will come under scrutiny against a Benetton side packed with outstanding attackers.

In his absence last weekend, the Cape side struggled to defend their wider channels, and Zas will look to improve on that display out wide.

Dobson said they’ve identified a couple of individual errors in their defence after leaking five tries, but without naming anyone, they would look to improve on that this weekend.

They know Benetton will capitalise on any defensive lapses they make.

“There were four errors (on defence), and three led to tries,” Dobson said on Friday about the Connacht performance that leaked five tries.

“One of the learnings was how the chain reaction starts.

“From sort-of really small things such as not getting a proper exit breakdown, Stef (Ungerer, scrumhalf) slightly overkicks it and Suleiman (Hartzenberg) is caught in Dead Man’s Land (chasing the contestable).

“It was individual errors, which is unlike us, but system-wise, we are fine (on defence).

“We give Normie (Norman Laker, defence coach) the team he wants, but I can’t sit up here and choose a team that does not suit our defensive thing.

“They will get it right this week, I have no question about that.”

With the emphasis on keeping Benetton from scoring as many tries as Connacht did, the Stormers also don’t want to take their foot off the attacking accelerator when they are so close to securing a spot in the URC knockouts.

Another victory on Saturday will see them take one step closer to finalising their spot amongst the URC top eight.

Two more games, against Welsh opposition, awaits them after Saturday.

“This will be a proper game of rugby,” Dobson added about the Benetton challenge.

“They have about 600 caps between their players. All except one player in their pack played the Six Nations, and they arguably have the best centre pairing that Italy has produced.

“So, it’s going to be a proper one.

“They (Italy) haven’t finished last in the Six Nations for the last couple of years.

“There is a generation there (at Benetton), and it is largely the Italian side. So, their growth has been amazing.”

The Cape side will need a massive improvement from last week to keep Benetton from claiming a famous win in the Mother City.

If Dobson’s men claim the victory, they will likely be assured of finishing in the top eight and securing a knockout game against a higher-ranked team than the top three sides.

That means they could then miss playing Leinster, Glasgow or the Bulls as things currently stand.

A target of 20 points from their final four games has been set.

They’ve claimed five against Connacht, and Benetton is the next handful they are targeting to get them to the halfway point of their goal ahead of the playoffs.

Stormers Team

15 Warrick Gelant 14 Seabelo Senatla 13 Dan du Plessis 12 Damian Willemse 11 Leolin Zas 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 9 Stefan Ungerer 8 Evan Roos 7 Marcel Theunissen 6 Paul de Villiers 5 Ruben van Heerden 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain) 3 Sazi Sandi 2 André-Hugo Venter 1 Ali Vermaak.

Bench: 16 JJ Kotze 17 Vernon Matongo 18 Brok Harris 19 JD Schickerling 20 Connor Evans 21 Louw Nel 22 Herschel Jantjies 23 Suleiman Hartzenberg.