How Stormers are coping without Manie

The Stormers must adapt to a different dynamic with Jurie Matthee at flyhalf, along with getting Warrick Gelant up to speed as an emergency goal-kicker.

This is according to director of rugby John Dobson, who was speaking from Pretoria in the buildup to Saturday’s North-South derby rematch with the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus in round 12 of the Vodacom URC.

Matthee will start at 10 for the third successive match, as the 24-year-old playmaker is the only recognised flyhalf available to the Stormers with Manie Libbok, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Damian Willemse and Jean-Luc du Plessis all sidelined.

With Matthee a more methodical pivot compared to the instinctive, free-flowing style of Libbok, Willemse and Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Dobson on Friday stressed that the team must embrace the differences rather than force Matthee into a role he isn’t suited for.

“He’s a different style of player. Guys like him and Stef [scrumhalf Stefan Ungerer], in northern hemisphere conditions and those sort of games, that’s why they’re here,” he said.

“I can’t say Manie is unique because there’s Sacha, Damian and Warrick who do those party tricks, but it’s not what we want from Jurie and I think he knows that.”

DOBSON: We must break through this barrier

Dobson acknowledged Matthee’s failed offload in the Stormers’ defeat to the Lions two weeks ago, adding: “There’s no way that ball out the back of the hand could be justified. We put the ball through to Dan [du Plessis] and that’s 27-20 with 27 minutes to go.

“Jurie put his hand up for it, to be fair. It’s quite tricky, if this team encourages players to be who they are, where we back people with their decisions and that sort of thing.

“I can’t really pull him by the ear and say, ‘don’t you ever do that again,’ but then he says, ‘but Manie’s allowed to.’ But I think he’s got the message, if that makes sense.”

Dobson also acknowledged that the Stormers’ game model inevitably shifts with a flyhalf of Matthee’s mould, though the overall approach remains unchanged.

“One of the things I’ve thought the Stormers have got right over the years is we’re very clear on our game model, and part of that is the positional requirements, and Jurie is a very different flyhalf,” he said.

“I think what those guys [Libbok, Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Willemse] bring is the ability to score something out of nothing. There’s no change to our attack shape or the depth of it or what the strike moves are.

TEAM: Stormers beef up for Loftus battle

“We do create transitions in chaos for those guys’ X factor, and those guys are world class and Jurie’s not in that league yet. We’ve just got to do more ourselves because we can’t rely on, say, Sacha’s quick feet or Manie’s brilliance to get us out of trouble. It’s a challenge.”

Adding to the challenge for Dobson is a lack of place-kicking depth – scrumhalf Paul de Wet and centre Jonathan Roche are the only backs on a 6-2 bench for Saturday’s clash in Pretoria. 

“It’s Warrick in terms of place-kicking [back-up]. It’s not ideal, but in the land of the blind… and what I mean by that is Jean-Luc is injured, Damian is injured, Manie is injured, Sacha is injured, and Kyle Smith who is the junior flyhalf is injured.

“Warrick would be down that order, and the next guy after Warrick is Herschel [Jantjies] who’s not here,” the coach added.

“We’ve been in this position for a few weeks now since JL got injured and Warrick has been practising [his goal-kicking] a lot. He’s not Deadeye Dick but that’s not something we’re not used to at the Stormers.

“We’re not going to make him an 80 percent kicker overnight unfortunately. It’s an element of risk for us.”

Photo: Roberto Bregani/Gallo Images