TODAY IN CAPE TOWN, Ulster will play their fourth semi-final since Dan McFarland became their head coach in 2018. There have also been two Champions Cup quarter-finals in that timeframe, knockout rugby something they are well acquainted with.
In contrast the Stormers are not. Last Saturday was their first play-off game in six years, their first play-off win in 12. Ulster might be waiting 16 years for a trophy but the Stormers’ wait for silverware goes back to the day they were formed.
You may be wondering what relevance this little history lesson has on today’s URC semi-final (kick off 2pm, live RTE, Premier Sports). So here goes.
If you want to be remembered as a player, or a coach, then winning matters. Only the nerds count the number of semi-finals a club reaches (seven for the Stormers, 14 for Ulster seeing as you asked).
Semi-finals are the ultimate crossroads moment. Leinster fans recall their 2009 win over Munster in the last four with a lot more clarity than their victory over Leicester in the Heineken Cup final a few weeks later because it was the Munster win that propelled them forward.
In contrast, this current Ulster team have been waiting for a genuine breakthrough since year one of the McFarland era. They should have beaten Leinster in the 2019 European Cup quarter-final; should have beaten Toulouse in the round of 16 game this year; should have beaten Leicester in last year’s Challenge Cup semi.
Instead those rugby pitches became battlefields of broken souls and wounded egos. Ulster, we kept being told, had a ceiling. They could only go so far.
Today is their chance to change that perception. “In previous big games,” James Hume said last week, “we went into our shells a bit. We kicked the ball away too much.”
You get the impression they are beginning to believe in their capacity to deliver. And it’s easy to see why. Their strengths, an excellent midfield, an effective maul, are also the Stormers weakness.
Ulster have a nice style of play, the ability to score off starter plays (check out Stuart Moore’s first try against Munster below), a backline that has pace, a pack that can hold its own, and a backrow that contains a World Cup winner.
24 nóim #ULSvMUN @UlsterRugby 14@Munsterrugby 7
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) June 3, 2022
Stuart Moore leis an scór ach an luas agus láimhseáil ó McIlroy agus Baloucoune
Some great team work from Ulster
+ 2 John Cooney #URC pic.twitter.com/7mLNSEF1Or
The problem is they won’t get things all their own way today. Not in 26 degree heat, not after the effects of a long-haul flight, not when your opponent has a No8 in Evan Roos who is in better form than your veteran, Duane Vermeulen.
Other factors that make the Stormers such a compelling side to watch include a back three that has a penchant for creating, or scoring, tries from deep. Warrick Gelant, Seabelo Senatla and Leolin Zas have serious pace, good feet and the ability to make the most of the few chances they get.
But Ulster too have good backs. Hume is currently the best of them but right across the park, every one of them delivered last weekend, including the much-maligned Billy Burns whose organisational skills came to the fore.
They’re a well-coached side, attack coach Dan Soper getting deserved praise for the role he played in last week’s victory. If they are to win today, though, it’ll be the work Jared Payne does with Ulster’s defence that will count for more because there is looseness within the Stormers play that makes them vulnerable as well as dangerous.
“The Stormers allow mistakes to creep into their game,” said Springbok great, Bobby Skinstad this week. “They try things; they take risks; that is part of their DNA.”
As it happened, Skinstad still tipped the Stormers to win, the fact they had home advantage being a factor in his thinking.
But today is the day Ulster can go to another level. Psychologically the nature of last week’s victory over Munster was telling, not just in terms of the scoreline, more to do with the fact that whenever Munster scored, Ulster quickly replied with scores of their own.
That suggests they’ve grown tired of being the nearly men, that those semi-final defeats to Glasgow in 2019, to Leicester in last season’s Challenge Cup, the European losses to Leinster and Toulouse, has instilled a resilience in them. They know far too well what it is like to lose these big games. Last week, though, suggested they’ve also learned how to win them.
DHL Stormers: Warrick Gelant, Seabelo Senatla, Ruhan Nel, Damian Willemse, Leolin Zas, Manie Libbok, Herschel Jantjies, Steven Kitshoff (CAPT), JJ Kotze, Frans Malherbe, Salmaan Moerat, Marvin Orie, Deon Fourie, Hacjivah Dayimani, Evan Roos
Replacements: Andre-Hugo Venter, Brok Harris, Neethling Fouche, Adre Smith, Ernst van Rhyn, Nama Xaba, Godlen Masimla, Sacha Mngomezulu
Ulster: Stewart Moore, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Ethan McIlroy, Billy Burns, John Cooney, Andrew Warwick, Rob Herring, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor, Iain Henderson (CAPT), Marcus Rea, Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen
Replacements: John Andrew, Eric O’Sullivan, Gareth Milasinovich, Kieran Treadwell, Matty Rea, Nathan Doak, Ian Madigan, Ben Moxham
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)