Stormers get Bok boost, 50 up for Suleiman

Suleiman Hartzenberg makes his 50th Stormers appearance as Manie Libbok and Neethling Fouche return to face Cardiff in Cape Town on Friday night.

Hartzenberg starts the Vodacom URC round 18 clash at Cape Town Stadium on the right wing, in an exciting back three with fellow speedster Leolin Zas and Damian Willemse.

Willemse shifts to fullback after earning his 100th cap at inside centre in last week’s 48-12 victory against Dragons. Dan du Plessis comes in at No 12 to partner Wandisile Simelane, who scored a brace of tries in the big win for John Dobson’s men.

The return of Libbok, who has been sidelined since January with a knee injury, at flyhalf sees Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu drop to the bench that features veteran hooker Scarra Ntubeni – in line for just his first appearance of the season.

Scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies runs out alongside fellow Springbok Libbok to complete the changes in the backline.

Tighthead prop Fouche, having completed a three-match ban, packs down in the front row with Bok rake Joseph Dweba and Sti Sithole, on his ninth outing of 2024-25.

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The towering JD Schickerling and skipper Salmaan Moerat link up in the second row, while Marcel Theunissen, Louw Nel and Dave Ewers form a new-look loose trio.

The Stormers enter the final round of URC league action as favourites, with three successive bonus-point wins and high on confidence after securing a quarter-final spot last week.

Dobson’s charges go into their last regular-season match looking to secure fifth place on the log, which could result in an away quarter-final against Glasgow if the defending champions lose to Leinster and slip to fourth.

The Capetonians can also draw inspiration from the fact that Cardiff, who went down to the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus in round 17, have only won three away games this season.

However, the ninth-placed Welsh visitors still have a shot of sneaking into the playoffs with victory in the shadow of Table Mountain, as the seventh and eighth-placed Benetton and Munster battle it out with one another.

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“The last three matches at home have seen us gain some confidence and secure our play-off spot with a game to go, but we know we are in for a big test against a Cardiff side that has it all to play for,” director of rugby John Dobson told the Stormers’ official website.

“We have made some changes to ensure that we have enough players with recent gametime heading into the play-offs and we are looking forward to seeing what those coming into the mix this week can do.

“We are also very aware that we are unlikely to play at home again this season, so we want to put together a good performance for the fans that have shown us such incredible support.”

STORMERS – 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Louw Nel, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole.
Bench: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Paul de Villiers, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Ben Loader.

Our team to take on Cardiff under the lights at DHL Stadium on Friday night.

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— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) May 15, 2025

Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images