Stormers to dent Toulon’s confidence by targeting their strengths
· Citizen
Stormers boss John Dobson said some his strategy for their Champions Cup last-16 clash against Toulon would be to target their weaknesses and strengths simultaneously, denting their confidence and reminding them why they haven’t won in six games.
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The teams meet at Stade Mayol in Toulon at 4pm on Saturday, with the Stormers in form after three consecutive wins, while the French giants have not won since January.
Coach Pierre Mignoni is also returning after what he described as a mid-season “breakdown”, saying he needed rest and sleep following a difficult campaign.
The French giants languish in 11th on the Top 14 table and are putting all their eggs in one basket with the Champions Cup, Dobson said after naming his team on Friday.
‘Biggest game of their season’
“It’s been made clear to us on the streets and by the media here that they are on the road to redemption,” Dobson said.
“It’s the biggest game of their season. I suppose a team that has lost five or six in a row lacks confidence but if we can remind them or dent their confidence with our intensity, and they understand the reason why they have lost five or six games, that’s an opportunity.”
He said the Stormers could create doubt by targeting Toulon in the scrums, where both sides are very strong.
“They’ve got the third-best scrum in the Top 14 and we are number one in the URC. Sometimes you look at where the opposition aren’t as strong and other times you have to try and take on their strong points.”
He referred to French star Jean-Baptiste Gros, Teddy Baubigny and English international Kyle Sinckler starting, with Italy international Gianmarco Lucchesi and Georgian Beka Gigashvili on the bench.
“There’s no doubt with that front row and bench, it’s very strong scrum. If you can depower that you go a long way in denting their confidence and getting the doubt back in.
“We’ve sensed one or two opportunities around the kicking game, which I won’t go into too many details about.”
Stormers form their own game plan
Dobson said the decision to start Jurie Matthee ahead of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, and Connor Evans in place of JD Schickerling, was due to workload management. The latter players are being managed with a possible quarter-final and two URC games in the following three weeks.
“We also wanted to build a bit of capacity by giving Connor and Jurie some rugby,” Dobson added.
“You are looking at a fast bench. So it is up to the starting team to make sure we are in a position to attack this game at the end.
“That was the thinking around changes this week. There was no element of merit, of JD or Sacha being dropped, or something like that.”