Having firmly established themselves as the best franchise on the field in South Africa, the next frontier for the Stormers is to be the best off it.
Head coach John Dobson holds the firm view their biggest area of improvement will come with the arrival of a long-awaited equity partner for Western Province (WP).
Having last week completed a clean sweep of wins in the South African conference, en route to successive Shield titles in the United Rugby Championship (URC), the Stormers are all too aware they have a target on their back.
“The practical change will come with an equity partner for WP and some of the austerity measures — like only having three laptops, or we don’t play in the player market, or the inability to hold on to Manie Libbok next year — might change. We will become a proper professional organisation,” Dobson predicted.
Clarity on the equity partner front may be a few months away, but for the moment the Stormers can luxuriate in the fact that they are the country’s top performers, with an arm tied behind their back.
Undisputed
“No-one can argue we are the best team in South Africa,” Dobson insisted. That knowledge endows them with belief, if not swagger.
Winning the SA Shield, Dobson reminded, potentially puts them on a path to the final that does not include Irish blue bloods Leinster. “That will be a driver for us again next year,” he said.
The coach takes the pragmatic view that they might surge to another clean sweep next season but equally, they could wait 12 years. Of course, with success comes that nagging feeling that it is temporary. “We know the wheel turns. We know there will come a time we lose two, three games in a row.
“We will always have guys that move on. Steven Kitshoff is part of the heartbeat of this team along with Deon Fourie and Hacjivah Dayimani. Steven is going to Ulster and Deon is 36 years old,” said Dobson.
These are waters the Bulls, and before them the Lions, had to negotiate while they set the trend in South Africa. The Bulls won everything in sight through 2020/2021 while the Lions stamped their authority from the 2015 Currie Cup through three successive Super Rugby finals until 2018.
“In the South African context, if you can ride that wave for three years, you would have done well,” said Swys de Bruin, who was assistant coach before guiding the Lions to the 2018 Super Rugby final.
De Bruin made another observation that partly stands in contrast with how the Stormers view their continued success. Dobson and the rest of the coaching staff will remain in place until 2027. “I believe a coach’s shelf life with a team is between three and five years. Your voice becomes the one. If you do well you are going to start losing players,” De Bruin pointed out.
Dobson added: “That’s why I emphasise our sense of belonging. We’ve made peace with the fact that we will always have to bring guys in and that might spit out some negative results.”
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