AFTER DISMANTLING THE Lions last Saturday, Leinster will be expecting a sterner test of their credentials from the Stormers in Dublin this weekend.
John Dobson’s side will visit the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening [KO 5.30pm] to take on the Irish province for a place in the URC final.
Leinster will still be favourites on home soil, all the more so because the Stormers are set to be without their leading star, out-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
The thrilling Springboks playmaker suffered what Dobson described as “a pretty serious ankle injury” during the Stormers’ 44-21 quarter-final win at home against Cardiff on Saturday.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu was on crutches after the game.
“We’ve lost probably the most in-form young player in world rugby the week before a semi-final,” Dobson told SuperSport.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu has since taken to Instagram to confirm that he is facing into a period of rehabilitation.
“I’ll say it how it is,” wrote the 24-year-old. “Frustrated, irritated and questioning, ‘Why me?’ First time injured in 14 months.
“Sometimes the game reminds you that you’re not invincible! Another injury, another chance to come back hungry, determined and focused.”
The Stormers were already without Springboks scrum-half Cobus Reinach, who suffered a knee injury in April, meaning they’re now missing their frontline halfbacks for this trip to Dublin.
39-year-old Deon Fourie is another sidelined senior Stormers player, having suffered a knee injury when Ulster’s Iain Henderson croc rolled him a URC game last month.
EJ Langner / INPHO
EJ Langner / INPHO / INPHO
Influential second row Ruben van Heerden was forced off with a head injury in the Cardiff clash and would be badly missed, while centre Dan du Plessis is another potential concern due to a knee issue.
Advertisement
Talented 22-year-old Imad Khan has stepped up impressively at scrum-half in the absence of Reinach, and the Stormers insist they have faith in 25-year-old Jurie Matthee at out-half.
But any team would miss the class of Reinach and Feinberg-Mngomezulu in a semi-final.
Nonetheless, Leinster will be expecting lots of ferocity from the Stormers on Saturday.
The Irish province haven’t forgotten what happened in the opening round of this season’s URC back in September.
“The Stormers, if you remember, we played them in Round 1,” said Leinster boss Leo Cullen after his side’s quarter-final win over the Lions.
“We got beaten. What score? 35-0, which was brutal. If you’d asked me after four rounds where we’d lost three of our first four games if we could have a semi-final at home against the Stormers, we would have bitten your hand off for that one.”
Leinster often receive praise for the pathways that feed into their squad of predominantly homegrown players, but Cullen was quick to point to how the Stormers benefit from the huge rugby culture in the Western Cape of South Africa.
The Stormers might be missing some key men, but they have lots of talent to call on, according to Cullen.
“If you’re down in Cape Town, the pathways that they have down there, the quality of players that they have, rugby’s everywhere down there. That’s the biggest challenge,” said Cullen.
“You’re literally coming from a country, a city of Cape Town. It’s a giant of the game in terms of that as a hotbed of rugby, in terms of production line.
“It’s a very strong set-piece, very strong kicking game. Some serious talent that they have at their disposal down there. It’s a great challenge for us, isn’t it?
Leinster had a tough day in Cape Town back in September. Steve Haag Sports / EJ Langner/INPHO
Steve Haag Sports / EJ Langner/INPHO / EJ Langner/INPHO
“But that’s exactly what you want. In terms of South African teams and the competition, you see that they won well against Cardiff. You saw the Bulls won very comfortably [against Munster]. They were in cruise control at the end of that game.
“They had a lot of chances to make the score even bigger. You can see the quality of these teams. It’s a great challenge, isn’t it? But that’s the beauty of the competition. That’s what we all wanted, isn’t it?”
There was an official attendance of just under 10,000 for Leinster’s win over the Lions, with the late Saturday kick-off time on a Bank holiday weekend and Dart closures unhelpful.
Cullen and co. are hoping for a much bigger turnout for this semi-final, which should prove a much bigger draw.
The Leinster boss understands that the province’s fans are hurting after the Champions Cup final loss against Bordeaux.
“We’re very appreciative of the support we have on lots of different levels,” said Cullen.
“We understand, it’s a big ask. We’re very appreciative. Listen, the crowd. It’s an amazing atmosphere out there. The people are turning up and that’s the most important thing.
“We just want people invested in the team. Our business is trying to work on our performance. We just need to focus on that now.
“Hopefully fans come out and back that. We just need to worry about our own selves which is producing performances similar to what we did today. But again, today is done now.
“The previous week is done. The previous week will linger, unfortunately. Because listen as I said on Thursday, it’s the grieving cycle that you’re on.
“Yes, we’re not off that either. So it’s important that we understand that. As a group, how we continue to navigate that.
“If you remember, there was one of our Champions Cup finals where we lost. We beat Glasgow by 60 points, but then lost to the Bulls the following week in a very close game in the semi-final at home in the RDS.
“We need to understand some of the emotional piece that guys are going through because still things will come back from the game. ‘If only we did this, only we did this, only we did this’. Unfortunately, that’s not going to work because you don’t get a second chance.
“You’d love to have a second chance but you don’t. As I said, play-off game number six next week. We just need to focus on delivering a big performance against a serious team in the Stormers.
“It will be a great battle between two good teams.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Stormers will miss Sacha FM for semi-final visit to Leinster
AFTER DISMANTLING THE Lions last Saturday, Leinster will be expecting a sterner test of their credentials from the Stormers in Dublin this weekend.
John Dobson’s side will visit the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening [KO 5.30pm] to take on the Irish province for a place in the URC final.
Leinster will still be favourites on home soil, all the more so because the Stormers are set to be without their leading star, out-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
The thrilling Springboks playmaker suffered what Dobson described as “a pretty serious ankle injury” during the Stormers’ 44-21 quarter-final win at home against Cardiff on Saturday.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu was on crutches after the game.
“We’ve lost probably the most in-form young player in world rugby the week before a semi-final,” Dobson told SuperSport.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu has since taken to Instagram to confirm that he is facing into a period of rehabilitation.
“I’ll say it how it is,” wrote the 24-year-old. “Frustrated, irritated and questioning, ‘Why me?’ First time injured in 14 months.
“Sometimes the game reminds you that you’re not invincible! Another injury, another chance to come back hungry, determined and focused.”
The Stormers were already without Springboks scrum-half Cobus Reinach, who suffered a knee injury in April, meaning they’re now missing their frontline halfbacks for this trip to Dublin.
39-year-old Deon Fourie is another sidelined senior Stormers player, having suffered a knee injury when Ulster’s Iain Henderson croc rolled him a URC game last month.
Influential second row Ruben van Heerden was forced off with a head injury in the Cardiff clash and would be badly missed, while centre Dan du Plessis is another potential concern due to a knee issue.
Talented 22-year-old Imad Khan has stepped up impressively at scrum-half in the absence of Reinach, and the Stormers insist they have faith in 25-year-old Jurie Matthee at out-half.
But any team would miss the class of Reinach and Feinberg-Mngomezulu in a semi-final.
Nonetheless, Leinster will be expecting lots of ferocity from the Stormers on Saturday.
The Irish province haven’t forgotten what happened in the opening round of this season’s URC back in September.
“The Stormers, if you remember, we played them in Round 1,” said Leinster boss Leo Cullen after his side’s quarter-final win over the Lions.
“We got beaten. What score? 35-0, which was brutal. If you’d asked me after four rounds where we’d lost three of our first four games if we could have a semi-final at home against the Stormers, we would have bitten your hand off for that one.”
Leinster often receive praise for the pathways that feed into their squad of predominantly homegrown players, but Cullen was quick to point to how the Stormers benefit from the huge rugby culture in the Western Cape of South Africa.
The Stormers might be missing some key men, but they have lots of talent to call on, according to Cullen.
“If you’re down in Cape Town, the pathways that they have down there, the quality of players that they have, rugby’s everywhere down there. That’s the biggest challenge,” said Cullen.
“You’re literally coming from a country, a city of Cape Town. It’s a giant of the game in terms of that as a hotbed of rugby, in terms of production line.
“It’s a very strong set-piece, very strong kicking game. Some serious talent that they have at their disposal down there. It’s a great challenge for us, isn’t it?
“But that’s exactly what you want. In terms of South African teams and the competition, you see that they won well against Cardiff. You saw the Bulls won very comfortably [against Munster]. They were in cruise control at the end of that game.
“They had a lot of chances to make the score even bigger. You can see the quality of these teams. It’s a great challenge, isn’t it? But that’s the beauty of the competition. That’s what we all wanted, isn’t it?”
There was an official attendance of just under 10,000 for Leinster’s win over the Lions, with the late Saturday kick-off time on a Bank holiday weekend and Dart closures unhelpful.
Cullen and co. are hoping for a much bigger turnout for this semi-final, which should prove a much bigger draw.
The Leinster boss understands that the province’s fans are hurting after the Champions Cup final loss against Bordeaux.
“We’re very appreciative of the support we have on lots of different levels,” said Cullen.
“We understand, it’s a big ask. We’re very appreciative. Listen, the crowd. It’s an amazing atmosphere out there. The people are turning up and that’s the most important thing.
“We just want people invested in the team. Our business is trying to work on our performance. We just need to focus on that now.
“Hopefully fans come out and back that. We just need to worry about our own selves which is producing performances similar to what we did today. But again, today is done now.
“The previous week is done. The previous week will linger, unfortunately. Because listen as I said on Thursday, it’s the grieving cycle that you’re on.
“Yes, we’re not off that either. So it’s important that we understand that. As a group, how we continue to navigate that.
“If you remember, there was one of our Champions Cup finals where we lost. We beat Glasgow by 60 points, but then lost to the Bulls the following week in a very close game in the semi-final at home in the RDS.
“We need to understand some of the emotional piece that guys are going through because still things will come back from the game. ‘If only we did this, only we did this, only we did this’. Unfortunately, that’s not going to work because you don’t get a second chance.
“You’d love to have a second chance but you don’t. As I said, play-off game number six next week. We just need to focus on delivering a big performance against a serious team in the Stormers.
“It will be a great battle between two good teams.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
big blow Leinster Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu semi URC