John Dobson reveals who will start at fly-half for Stormers in United Rugby Championship
Stormers director of rugby John Dobson and utility back Damian Willemse.
Stormers director of rugby John Dobson knows that he will have a serious selection conundrum when all his Springboks return from international duty within the next few weeks.
The men from the Cape will have some star studded backline players in their ranks particularly at fly-half where they will have some of the best playmakers in the world to choose from.
New kid on the Test block
Leading the way is the prodigious talent Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who has been involved in all eight of the Springboks’ Tests this year and is currently viewed as the world champions’ first choice number 10.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who is equally adept at playing at full-back or in the centres, was on the fringes of the Stormers set-up last season and filled in mostly off the bench in the aforementioned positions when he received game-time from Dobson.
Meanwhile, the likes of fellow Boks Manie Libbok and Damian Willemse, who like Feinberg-Mngomezulu is also capable of playing in various backline positions, called the shots as the team’s chief playmakers.
Libbok was the first choice fly-half with Willemse, who featured mostly at inside centre, next in line for the Stormers number 10 jersey while the likes of Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Jurie Mathee were also in the mix but well and truly lower down in the pecking order.
However, Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s emergence as a world class fly-half for the Boks means Dobson will have a genuine selection headache at fly-half when he has all of his number 10s back in the Stormers camp.
The Stormers kick off their United Rugby Championship campaign with an away clash against the Ospreys on September 2028. Libbok and Feinberg-Mngomezulu are expected to be involved with the Springboks at that time while Willemse is on his way back from a hand injury which has kept him on the sidelines for all the Springboks Tests so far in 2024.
The Stormers boss admitted that it will be difficult to find a spot for all of his brilliant playmakers in the same starting line-up.
“I hope one of them gets injured,” Dobson jokingly told Sport24. “I don’t really mean that, but it’s a tricky one because we’ve also got Damian Willemse and all these 10, 12, 15s.
‘It’s a great position to be in’
“It’s a great position to be in, but Sacha’s made it clear that he wants to be a 10 throughout his career. Damian’s different – he wants to play anywhere – and I know Manie’s played at 15 before, but he’s an out and out 10.
“It’ll just be pure rotation; we’re blessed to have it because we didn’t expect it. So, it’s going to be a straight rotation [situation]. I think when the competition starts, Damian is available, and he’ll probably start at 10 until the others come back from the national team.
“Then we’ll have a problem when one of them will have to sit on the bench. Sorry for the cliché, but it’s a nice position to be in.”
