Stormers get Bok boost ahead of tough La Rochelle Champions Cup clash

The Stormers have been boosted with the inclusion of first-choice Springboks halfbacks Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Cobus Reinach for Saturday’s Investec Champions Cup.

The Cape Town club will take on European champions La Rochelle for the second group game of the tournament in Gqeberha on Saturday at 3pm.

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Stormers head coach John Dobson says the team has had impressive wins, noting that the team’s character has been the key to its success.

The Stormers go into the game with the momentum of being unbeaten in a season that so far has included six Vodacom United Rugby Championship games and their Champions Cup opener away to Bayonne.

“I am enjoying it, but I don’t know where it is coming from. It’s real depth, we were literally changing our packs on the tour, putting on six forwards at 45 minutes and it's working for us,” he says.

“We have to deliver a bit different this week because of the mere size of La Rochelle, we are going to have to be as physical as we can as early on. So, the team looks a bit more like a traditional bench with more runners coming on than maybe we looked at when we brought more power on the tour.”

Dobson says that while the addition of the new players will assist with the physical challenge La Rochelle presents, balancing the team’s existing dynamic can be tricky. 

“The challenge is that our game looks quite a bit different, and the cohesion around the players, playing outside Sacha, for example, that’s the concern for me.”

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To listen to Dobson in conversation with CapeTalk’s John Maytham, click the audio player below: