{"id":702918,"date":"2026-05-29T20:38:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/702918\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T20:38:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:38:23","slug":"stormers-tricky-management-problem-when-springboks-arent-playing-we-need-all-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/702918\/","title":{"rendered":"Stormers ‘tricky management’ problem when Springboks aren’t playing: ‘We need all four’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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John Dobson has hailed the work of Stormers legend Brok Harris in building the Cape Town\u2019s side front row depth and previews the tricky player management next season.<\/p>\n

Dobson is currently preparing his side for the United Rugby Championship quarter-final against Cardiff on Saturday in the Mother City but cast his eye to next season when his propping stocks will be boosted further by arguably the best tighthead prop in the game, Wilco Louw.<\/p>\n

The Springboks<\/a> number three is returning to his old stomping ground after successful stints at Harlequins and the Bulls but in doing so leaves the Stormers with a bit of a selection conundrum of the best kind.<\/p>\n

For this weekend\u2019s clash, Dobson has named two Springboks tightheads in his matchday 23 in Neethling Fouch\u00e9 and Zachary Porthen \u2013 who both debuted at Test level last year \u2013 but has overlooked the consistent performer and Test hopeful Sazi Sandi. This while, one of the Boks\u2019 greatest number threes, Frans Malherbe, has been sidelined all season.<\/p>\n

Stormers\u2019 oversupply issue next season<\/p>\n

The Stormers<\/a> are similarly well stocked on the loosehead side of the scrum, a luxury that Dobson understands is incredibly rare in the United Rugby Championship.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe work Brok Harris has done with the front row culture is fantastic. When it comes to selection, I\u2019ll say, \u2018Brocky, who do you want?’\u201d Dobson<\/a> told reporters ahead of the quarter-final.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt loosehead, Oli Kebble and Ali Vermaak are injured; Olly Reid is with the U20s, he is going to be exceptional, and we are still going out with Vernon Matongo and Ntuthuko Mchunu.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen at tighthead it is just crazy with Frans Malherbe injured, Wilco Louw is obviously not here yet, and Sazi Sandi is not playing; then we still rate Herman Lubbe very highly, and there is still Hencus van Wyk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think teams in the URC have got a second or third front row like that, so it is very important to us. The tighthead problem, it is a problem in terms of the oversupply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Springboks legends\u2019 dig at new Stormers recruit as Jean de Villiers wary of Sharks repeat with Siya Kolisi and Cheslin Kolbe signings<\/a><\/p>\n

Managing player minutes<\/p>\n

Dobson is wary that the game-time management at tighthead prop will become an issue next season, particularly if Fouche moves up the pecking order with Asenathi Ntlabakanye now banned.<\/p>\n

\u201cZach is a Springbok, so is Frans Malherbe\/Wilco, because in our minds largely the same player because certain Springboks are world leaders. So, when Frans goes, so will his replacement Wilco. Then Neethling Fouche is a Springbok, and with Asenathi getting banned, I don\u2019t know where they rate the other Springbok tightheads at the moment, but Neethling could be [next],\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe start next season, we go away to Connacht and Edinburgh go to the Sharks, \u00a0I think we worked out that it\u2019s eight or nine games without our Springboks so Sazi Sandi becomes gold, but we can\u2019t say to Sazi listen you\u2019re not going to play now and then knock on your door and say you\u2019re super important to us because he\u2019s also got a mission to be a Springbok. It\u2019s going to be very, very tricky management when the Springboks aren\u2019t playing.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want Neethling to be a Springbok and play 40 Tests but let us say he is not; that\u2019s what gave us a good start to the season: it was that tight five when you had Adre Smith and JD Schickerling coming off the bench with Neethling and Sazi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got to keep them all but how we get there it\u2019s going to be easier said than done because let\u2019s say they all fit and you go Wilco and Neethling, Zach and Sazi are ambitious and Sazi promised his dad that he is going to be a Springbok \u2013 he\u2019s not if he\u2019s not playing for the Stormers so it\u2019s going to be very tricky but we need all four. I\u2019ve got zero doubt because that\u2019s our game model now; it is clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Springboks\u2019 next Bomb Squad expert: Eight options for Rassie Erasmus to trial in 2026 after Kwagga Smith setback<\/a><\/p>\n

Retaining scrum dominance<\/p>\n

The Stormers boss believes that they have addressed issues in their game this season, particularly in their aerial and transition game, a reason they recruited Cheslin Kolbe too. However, he adds that they have to retain their set-piece prowess and can\u2019t let star players go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our transition game hasn\u2019t been as good as it can be, as teams have shortened their kicks. We worked very hard on changing that on the contestable,\u201d Dobson added. \u201cI think we\u2019re getting there. But also, we lacked a bit of strike power on the wings with Seabelo [Senatla] being out for so long; we had Wandi [Simelani] play a lot on the wing, and we had Dylan [Maart] from the Griquas.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s the set-piece; we got the best scrum penalty differential in the URC and that we don\u2019t tamper with. I think we\u2019ll lose some of our ability to put the opposition under pressure to exit if we don\u2019t have that attacking scrum. So, but it\u2019s going to be a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Ben O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s \u2018clear\u2019 verdict on Springboks World Cup penalty that left England star with \u2018open wounds\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Dobson has hailed the work of Stormers legend Brok Harris in building the Cape Town\u2019s side front…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,818,209442,44,760,1183,85,134440,134441],"class_list":["post-702918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-john-dobson","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa","tag-sports","tag-stormers","tag-united-rugby-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}