The Stormers could unleash an all-Springbok front row when they face Cardiff in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday.
Playing to a 16-all draw with the Ospreys in Wales on Friday night on a wet pitch which saw their front-rowers struggle in the scrums, coach John Dobson has revealed that they will fly in Springbok tighthead prop Frans Malherbe for this week’s match.
DHL Stormers 16-16 Ospreys
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) October 14, 2022
☔️ Hard rain in Swansea
🫡 Tough battle for 80 mins
1⃣ Try each
📄 Full match reporthttps://t.co/9al3Py7AOT
With his Springboks coming and going after a busy international schedule, national team front-rowers Steven Kitshoff and Joseph Dweba played off the bench against Ospreys, as the Stormers stretched their unbeaten run in the tournament to 15 games.
But with Malherbe being flown in this week, they could unleash the trio from the start against the eighth-placed Cardiff.
Dobson says: “I don’t see us getting to 100 percent [in terms of our strongest XV] before the Champions League. “We do the calculations every week and try to be in the 70s [in terms of full strength].
“We had [Steven] Kitshoff on the bench and [Joseph] Dweba. Some guys will go back this week, and Frans Malherbe will come…”
Of playing to a draw against the Ospreys, Dobson adds: “You could see in the draw, the Ospreys were probably the more cheerful team. The way they stayed in the fight was really good.
“I thought it was one of our better performances in the conditions – we scored one of our classic tries… but the scrum was a bit creaky in the first half.
“We were tactically good until the last 10 minutes…”
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za