Quins vs Stormers

Clinton Swart with a fine pass over the defense gets the Stormers in space wide.

And nice work by Matthee wrapping around the Willemse offload gets Maart away in the corner. Chalk that down to Swart's vision in the first place. 54-10

Quins continue running lines that get them in space.

The only serious item in this game is whether we saw any evidence Willemse should be at 12. He needs the 2 metres of space in front of him, to work his step. Side on, he is an easy put away and he doesn’t have the power of Esterhozen head on. Today his tackling was poor, but that’s not normally an issue.

The one modestly effective thing he did assisting in the Khan try occurred when he was in space. Involved in the Maart try, but again easily put away one on one.

To me he looks much more comfortable at 15

Anyhoo, off to save the garden from this 43 degree bullshit. Later dudes.

Yeah outside of a few moments in THAT All Black game he's done little to inspire confidence at 12.

The worst performance by the Sttotmers this yearand definitely as bad as the Bulls and Sharks were this year. The whole team was not functional - as a resut of resting of key players,

Mike this was a second string outfit out of their depth.

That said only the Stormers in the URC are doing well. But the second string is not competitive.

Our two problems are that we do not have endless depth and too many of our players are playing overseas.

Secondly how many good coaches do we have?

Then we get the MGU insisting Willemse cant at 12. Can you really judge by this. Willemse looks great at 12 for the Boks. So what is the problem. Last week even Sacha looked ordinary.

The jury is still out and Maiar Gumos should not jump to conclusions. Mozzietard is notorious for making one incident career defining. Talk about jumping to conclusions. Bwahahahahaha.

Actually Willemse played 12 only once for the Boks in his 49 tests….in a match where we blew away the ABs…..can you really judge by that? You are the one who has apparently ‘jumped to conclusions’.

...and in that one game he was at 12 for about 40 minutes. And only when he went to 15 did the Boks run away with it...while AE was at 12.

...meanwhile we have seen a bunch of poor performances from him at 12 for the Stormers. In fact, I can't really recall him have a great game at 12.

You guys need to face facts, nobody knows if Fassi will ever get his form back, and even when he is in form, Willemse is just as good at 15.

Then again, Dobbo, in all his wisdom, did play Sacha at 12 as well, which might just be the dumbest thing ever.

It was a sh!tshow, but there is a bigger picture...

Exactly ….Willemse went to 15 at minute 38 of that test and Esterhozen went to 12. At that point NZ was leading by 10 points to 7. Willemse thrived in the space we gained in the second half.

His work on defense, I’m guessing largely at 12 wasn’t great. The record shows one turnover conceded, four tackles made, 2 tackles missed. Probably an anomaly, I haven’t noticed any defensive issues.

But on attack so far his calling card has been elusiveness, not the raw power that characterizes the modern 12.

In terms of the Stormers there is about a 7 point handicap the first game after N/S travel. Which makes Bristol’s effort yesterday even more surprising.

Clearly the gap today was much greater, about as B a B team as one sees. And Duvenage was hardly in the game. The defense was non existent.

A poor strategic decision from management.

INVESTEC CHAMPIONS CUP

Harlequins 61 Stormers 10: Nick David scores hat-trick as Prem club inflict South African side’s first defeat of season to secure place in Champions Cup knockout rounds

new

Alex Spink

Sunday January 11 2026, 5.16pm GMT, The Times

Murley dives over to score one of nine tries for Harlequins as the home side put three successive Prem thrashings behind them

SHUTTERSTOCK EDITORIAL

Match Summary

Alex Dombrandt led Harlequins to a nine-try demolition of the Stormers then demanded the London club use the performance as a benchmark for the rest of the season.

A week after the club’s hierarchy put out a statement admitting that recent performances were “unacceptable” and effectively apologising to their supporters, Harlequins booked their place in the knockout stages of the Champions Cup.

Victory over opponents who had won all ten of their previous games this season was reason to be cheerful for a side that had conceded 149 points in three successive Gallagher Prem drubbings and been called all sorts of names.

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“It’s been a tough few weeks for us,” Dombrandt, the England No8, said. “We’ve had honest conversations, players and coaches, we’ve looked at taking a bit of accountability ourselves and looked at our mindset going into games.

“Everyone at the club wants to push forward and see improvements, and I’ve been really proud with how the boys have stuck together. But, 100 per cent, this has to be the benchmark.”

Watching from the sidelines, the former Harlequins and England captain Chris Robshaw said: “They [Harlequins] now need to reflect and be honest. Enjoy this, because it’s been a tough time, but know there are tougher tests to come.

Kenningham got Harlequins off to a fast start as he opened the scoring during a man-of-the-match display

BOB BRADFORD – CAMERASPORT VIA GETTY IMAGES

“They’ve had people throwing stuff at them, people going after them. So this was a performance everyone in the organisation needed. But really reflect on this performance because there are areas in which they can still improve.”

On a freezing day, made even colder by the weather they had left behind in Cape Town, the Stormers head coach John Dobson was scathing about his own side’s inadequacies.

“That was humiliating,” he said. “We thought we had enough to compete. We didn’t compete even. They totally dominated us in the collisions. It’s a hell of a way for an unbeaten record to come crushing down.

“We were without a few players but we came here absolutely determined to win. We wanted to get through this group unbeaten. I’m really disappointed.”

Dombrandt called for his side to use the performance as the benchmark going forward after a “tough few weeks”

ANDREW FOSKER/SHUTTERSTOCK

Harlequins’ improved attitude was apparent immediately as they won a counter-ruck inside five minutes — Guido Petti and Bryn Bradley powered on before Jack Kenningham, the player of the match, finished the job after arriving on a smart angle.

They got lucky with their second, with Marcus Smith’s chip coming back off a Stormers hand straight to Luke Northmore, whose pass to Cadan Murley had enough zip on it for the England wing to get over in the corner.

From there, though, it was one-way traffic. When Jack Walker played a peach of an inside ball to Dombrandt, the Harlequins captain tore to the line, ball in one hand, for the third.

The English side were unrecognisable from the rabble of recent weeks. This was high-energy, heads-up rugby, played at pace. It might have taken a kick up the backside to provoke it, but few in the stands were complaining.

Cunningham-South goes over to secure the bonus point for Harlequins midway through the first half

ANDREW FOSKER/SHUTTERSTOCK

It does have to be viewed in context. Stormers, despite being the unbeaten leaders of the United Rugby Championship, offered precious little. Last season they turned up with half a team and were demolished. A year on, they had learnt little from the experience.

We will never know what difference the Springboks’ half-back pairing of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Cobus Reinach would have made, but we can have a pretty good guess.

By the half-hour mark, the scoreboard was outpacing the clock. Chandler Cunningham-South scored Harlequins’ bonus-point try from a Kenningham charge-down before Nick David combined with Tyrone Green to bag the first score of what would become a hat-trick.

The moment that delighted Dombrandt most, however, came at the other end, where the home side won a breakdown on their own tryline, again through Kenningham, on the stroke of half-time to deny the South African team.

David scored his first try around the half-hour mark and then added two more after the break

ANDREW FOSKER/SHUTTERSTOCK

The second half continued in a similar vein, Harlequins’ players seeing the pitch as a land of opportunity rather than the place of dread that it had been in successive hammerings by Bristol Bears, Sale Sharks and Northampton Saints.

David scored twice in a minute around the hour mark before Zach Carr and Jarrod Evans came off the bench to join the scoring spree. It added up to a good day’s work, but now comes the test. Harlequins go to La Rochelle needing victory if they are to secure home advantage for the round of 16.

Ronan O’Gara’s men, on home soil and fully loaded, will present an altogether different challenge.

Match Stats

Harlequins: T Green (J Evans 60); N David, L Northmore, B Bradley, C Murley; M Smith, L Friday (M Green 64); S Kerrod (W Hobson 50), J Walker (G Turner 60), P Delgado (H Williams 42), G Petti (E Williams 60), K Treadwell, C Cunningham-South, J Kenningham (Z Carr 60), A Dombrandt (T Lawday 60).

Stormers: W Gelant (J Matthee 66); D Maart, S Hartzenberg, D Willemse (C Swart 7-19), L Burger (M Ndhlovu 57); J Matthee (C Swart 61), D Duvenage (I Khan 53); O Kebble (V Matongo 53), L Vokozela (S Ntubeni 56), Z Porthen (H van Wyk 60), C Evans (A Groves 60), R van Heerden, L Nel (W Mlaba 53), B Dixon, M Theunissen.

Referee: N Amashukeli (Georgia).

Standings — Investec Champions Cup

Group 1

Sport

Rugby union

To my mind the case for DW 12 is denied and closed.

It was never really a strong case anyway. Basically built on "I'm sure he can play 12" rather than "here is my evidence for him excelling at 12" while the evidence for him being a great 15 is overwhelming.

The question is this; When a guy that has absolutely proven that he has great success at 15 and when he is so good in that position that he would walk into most other teams on earth as a 15...and he is 27, what is the fascination with moving him to 12?

And here's the kicker. Supposedly Roos could never play 12, and that's an ignorant idea to entertain.

...but who has more of the attributes needed for a South African 12? Dawie already admits that Roos is a linking 8(stating he has great handling skills, looks too offload, etc). And of course, the one thing that DW doesn't have, the grunt to hold the ball up and power over the advantage line against backs in traffic.

Here is the Rucker's logic. Take the best 15 in the world, force him in at 12 where has never been nearly as good but totally shit on the idea that a forward can transition to 12 despite the Bok team literally having 2 hybrid players in the side right now and one of those players being selected every week. There is an understanding developing that having such a players has numerous advantages, which we actually saw this season in games where the Boks perma red cards.

Some things are certain, Roos at 12 would a rock solid defender and consistently get you over the advantage line. Can we agree on that?

The argument against Roos at 12 is becoming thinner by the day.

Note the passing, line breaks and pace...

After you've watched above video, and if you think that DW would make a better 12 than Roos, then feel free to post any highlights video you like that shows DW doing more 12 like things then you see Roos doing above.

Watched about 2 minutes of that, you have a point Plum. The specific point is Roos is trying to succeed as an 8th man, by demonstrating he is a hard yards man. He’s not bad, but there are better….notably Wiese.

But put him in space and he is as fast as and stronger than almost all 12s.

Which brings us to an interesting question. Have rugby positions been too subscribed. We have, according to some, Dud Toit succeeding at flank and Venter looking impressive. We have Esterhozen also succeeding at flank. But is flank the only position that’s malleable? .

Clearly the front row isn’t malleable. Lock seems to be accommodating a few body types….breekers and tall athletes ….lifting favors the latter in lineouts,

Wings and fullbacks vary very significantly….Lomu to Kolbe. But given how a center like Dud Allende plays, why can’t you consider strong running loosies for this position? It doesn’t have high specific skills like flyhalf.

It would certainly be a fascinating experiment to put Roos out there against a minow and gauge the results.

WOW

Is your mind expanding Dave….grip your cheeks firmly and push hard inwards to stop the process.

Yeah that will be it

I was thinking Kolbe at hooker might work as well - prolong his career when he loses pace

At scrumhalf…. Seriously if Esterhozen can excel at flank why can’t an open sider excel at 12. We reject the notion viscerally but …..fetching, offloading, defense, running in traffic is common to both positions.

Not every center is strong enough for flank and not every flank has the wheels for 12, but Roos does. Esterhozen had no opportunity until he became a hybrid. Roos might be in the same position because his old man pissed off Geraasmus,…maybe this is a way out for him.

I’d be interested to see it tried….perhaps just once. And I’d feel sorry for the opponent who has to stop him in space.

Roos at 12 with Wiese and Hanekom off the back of the scrum, Elreigh and andre off the bench.

I don't think there a 10 in world rugby that would fancy that

Pipe dream though.

Because Roos does not have the nuances of a rugby centre, something built over years of having played the position

Centre is the most difficult position on the field to shine

A centres rugby IQ is accumulated over time, He has subconsciously banked attacking and defensive reads through repetition

Roos would be owned at centre - he would be predictable and easily contained - does not have the soft touch of a classy centre but mostly does not have the rugby IQ of a centre

Esterhuizen moving to flank is the easy switch - mentally it requires a switch down from centre while relying on the physical aspect of his game that has served him so well at 12

There is no way in hell Roos would make it as a 12 - maybe playing for WP against the EP Elephants at CC level he would look half decent at 12, but forget it at Stormers level and less so at test level

Centre is the hardest position on the field - only the very, very best make a bit of an impression at test level and it’s the very reason test sides other than SA keep changing their centres never banking on the same player over time. Coaches are always in search of that one that will stand a little taller

I quite enjoyed the game to be honest. Nice to see Quins get back to winning ways…..

"Roos would be owned at centre - he would be predictable and easily contained - does not have the soft touch of a classy centre but mostly does not have the rugby IQ of a centr

Lol, the bag of contradictions. Willemse is supposedly our next 12 yet has limited experience at 12 and never really excelled when he's there. How long does it take to "bank those reads", Dave? How many games has Willemse started at 12 over his pro career. I'm gonna bet it's less than 20.

Playing at 12 apparently requires some savant level finesse though, as anybody with eyes that watches rugby can see, the majority is crash ball and setting up rucks. When the hell last did anyone here leave a Bok game thinking "Wow, DDA has such finesse!". Never? You've got to be kidding haha

On the one hand there is no space at 12, and that's why DDA never does anything while on the other hand there is space at 12 and that's why Willemse should play there...apparently he can make space. But wouldn't that mean that there has always been space there but DDA could simply never find it?

You make up the facts as you go along, Dave.

Feel free to post that video of Willemse doing more 12-like things than you see Roos doing above. Any time now...

PS Proudfoot recently spoke about this exact topic. That of hyper athletic guys that are big enough for the pack and skilful enough for the backs. He rambled off a series of names, and Roos was among them. The point being, the topic is nowhere near as outlandish as your jargon loaded opinion attempts to make it sound.

Fuck me so Willemse has limited experience at 12 having played there all through his formative years and probably 50% of his professional career - fuck your are stupid - seriously

Willemse was brilliant at 12 against the AB’s and was one of the few positives over the weekend and was good last week at 12

Willemse at 12 is about playing it differently as he did against the AB’s. DA crashed aplenty but he also played it as a classical 12 does, implying he did not is a lie.

Its fucking insulting to centres saying Roos could do as a good a job - saying he could evidences your limited understanding of the game

I quite enjoyed the game to be honest.

Be honest .... you enjoyed seeing our fellas getting hammered.:)

There is zero pleasure in watching an A side thump a B side it’s says nothing about either side other than the inept management of the coaching unit that chose to send a B side onto the field

The Saints A side got its arse kicked

No blob, I didn’t ! I support your guys most of the time…..except when they’re playing my team……so I was surprised to see the Stormers ( albeit an underpowered side ) get such a comprehensive beating.

The Saints A side were missing Fin Smith and his replacement had a serious facial injury which must have affected his play. I knew we were going to get a beating. I’m just sorry we didn’t play better on the day, Saffolk.

Fin Smith missing does not change the fact that was your A side that got thumped

George Furbank was also missing, as was Fraser Dingwall.

As I said, I expected a beating so stop gloating, Saffolk….

Every side has players missing

Having played flyhalf, center and fullback, center was by far the easiest position. Defense was actually trickier than ball in hand. It’s an insult to flankers to say flanker is a dumb down from center. How could the ‘greatest’ player of all time be dumb?

Yes, Saffolk, I am aware of that.

I played flyhalf, centre and fullback as well and centre was by far the most difficult to make an impression - on attack and by far the most challenging defensively. Fullback was the easiest of the 3, more time, more space.

A flank compared to centre is like chalk and cheese in terms of skill set and rugby IQ required

Played properly you might be able to defend your contention,…12 played the way we have played it? No brains at all required, I doubt Allende’s IQ is in the top10 of our 15 starters.

Bullshit re de Allende - just because he has had to crash it up a lot of the time as all test 12’s do does not mean that was all he is about

There are only a handful of you clowns on here that don’t rate him - the majority of rugby followers rate him highly and rightly so

Centre is the hardest position on a rugby field of that there is no doubt

No test forward today or in the past would ever have made a test standard centre over a period of time

And yet, even though he is exactly the same player he was 8 years ago….you can’t wait to replace him with Willemse. What are you trying to say Dave?