Damian Willemse ‘played exceptionally well’ as John Dobson explains why the Stormers canned ‘deeply unpopular’ selection
Stormers back Damian Willemse and an inset of director of rugby John Dobson.
After three straight starts at wing, Damian Willemse returns to the starting full-back role for the Stormers this weekend against Glasgow Warriors.
John Dobson’s men host URC table toppers Glasgow Warriors in Cape Town on Saturday, and for the first time since the United Rugby Championship victory over the Dragons, Willemse is named at full-back as he takes over from Warrick Gelant.
Outcry over Damian Willemse’s wing selections
It’s a selection that many have called for in recent weeks, including Stormers and Springboks legend Schalk Burger, who believes that Willemse is wasted on the wing.
“We have quality players, but there’s an issue that we don’t have wingers,” Burger said on the Verdict podcast earlier this week.
“But I think we’ve got to get Damian Willemse either taking charge at 15 or playing at 12. And if there’s an injury concern, then maybe 15 is his place at the moment because we have to get him more involved.
“He’s a good winger; he does decent stuff on the wing, but you want your best players to touch the ball the most amount of times in a game, and at 12 or 15, that’s what happens with him. But at wing for me it’s just a waste.”
Willemse is renowned for his versatility, having played fly-half, centre and full-back for the Springboks, with many believing that the latter is his best position.
In recent weeks, fans have echoed Burger’s criticism of the Springbok playing on the wing, but director of rugby Dobson explains it was a necessary evil to fit the team’s tactical needs.
“He played exceptionally well on the wing.”
He added that the backtracking of the selection ploy was in reaction to the dismay of the supporters and the acknowledgement that Willemse won’t play on the wing for the Springboks.
Still, the Stormers boss says that the tactic was a success and produced stats that he hasn’t seen before.
“I know it’s not the public perception and how much trouble we got into for playing him on the wing, but if one looks at the technical things, he made more carries than Dan du Plessis last week; our contestable game, I think we had 75% to nought, I’ve never seen that before,” he said.
“The way he regathered the restarts, he played exceptionally well on the wing. We all know wing and full-back are interchangeable.”
John Dobson reveals Deon Fourie’s selfless act as Springboks veteran ‘stood himself down’
He continued, “Part of the logic this week was that we know it’s not Damian’s full-time position. He is not going to play for South Africa like that. So, we want to get him back at full-back. We wanted him back at full-back.
“Also, people are really unhappy with seeing him on the wing. We had a contestable plan for Edinburgh, Toulon, which worked, and Connacht – we lost that game, but that plan worked in terms of the contestables and how we wanted to play. But I said a couple of weeks ago, it was limited. I’m also aware it’s deeply unpopular.”
Recovering from a ‘terrible’ week
Reflecting on last weekend’s defeat to Connacht, Dobson said that the emotional weight of the passing of team manager Chippie Solomon clearly had an impact on his side’s performance.
The squad attended the long-serving Stormers staff member’s funeral on Tuesday, and the director of rugby hopes that his side can be more cold-blooded against Glasgow.
“Last week was a horrible week, and Tuesday wasn’t easy either,” he said.
“Often when you’re in those times, you are a frog in the pot, you think every night, how did we get through today, but then when you see the state that Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] is in before that game, and that must have been what 30 seconds before kick-off? And he is not the only one by any stretch of the imagination.
“Then, to ask them to go through that and come as close as they did in terms of the freakish things at the end.
“So hopefully tomorrow we’ll have less of that heavy emotion and then some nice combinations and a team that really wants to win. It was a terrible, terrible experience, and it’s inconsequential compared to Chippie’s death, but then losing it and then to have Chippie’s family in the changeroom, and you would have wanted to have won the game and say we did this for Chippie, and it’s been a really, really, really tough time.
“From Wednesday, we have had a bit more of a spring in our step.
“Some of that stuff that we tried on the weekend, it was almost like the guys were trying to score quickly for Chippie, quick throw-ins, or a couple of extra passes, and if we can have a bit more coldbloodedness and less of the emotion and desperation, I think that’ll give us a better chance of winning it. ”
