URC Round 18 - Team selection

Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Louw Nel, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole.

Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Paul de Villiers, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Ben Loader.

Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Harri Millard, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Gabe Hamer-Webb, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Alex Mann, 6 Alun Lawrence, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Josh McNally (captain), 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Evan Lloyd, 1 Danny Southworth

Replacements: 16 Dafydd Hughes, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 James Botham, 21 Dan Thomas, 22 Johan Mulder, 23 Rory Jennings

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Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Harry Paterson, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Magnus Bradbury (captain), 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Ben Muncaster, 5 Sam Skinner, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman

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Replacements: 16 Paddy Harrison, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Glen Young, 20 Jamie Ritchie, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Mark Bennett.

Ulster: 15 Michael Lowry, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Jude Postlethwaite, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jack Murphy, 9 Nathan Doak, 8 David McCann, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Cormac Izuchukwu, 5 Iain Henderson (captain), 4 Kieran Treadwell, 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Andrew Warwick

Replacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Callum Reid, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Harry Sheridan, 20 James McNabney, 21 Dave Shanahan, 22 Aidan Morgan, 23 Stewart Moore.

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Munster: 15 Thaakir Abrahams, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Diarmuid Kilgallen, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Tadhg Beirne (captain), 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Michael Milne.

Replacements: 16 Lee Barron, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 John Ryan, 19 Fineen Wycherley, 20 Tom Ahern, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Seán O’Brien, 23 Alex Kendellen.

Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Ignacio Mendy, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Ignacio Brex, 11 Paolo Odogwu, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Riccardo Favretto, 5 Federico Ruzza (captain), 4 Scott Scrafton, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Siua Maile, 1 Thomas Gallo.

Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Sebastian Negri, 21 Nicolò Casilio, 22 Tomas Albornoz, 23 Malakai Fekitoa.

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Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 David Kriel, 11 Sergeal Petersen, 10 Keagan Johannes, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Ruan Nortje (captain), 6 Nama Xaba, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Jannes Kirsten, 20 Marcell Coetzee, 21 Bernard van der Linde, 22 Stedman Gans, 23 Devon Williams.

Dragons: 15 Angus O’Brien (co-captain), 14 Harry Rees-Weldon, 13 Joe Westwood, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Huw Anderson, 10 Lloyd Evans, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 6 Ryan Woodman, 5 Ben Carter (captain), 4 Joe Davies, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Brodie Coghlan, 1 Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths

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Replacements: 16 Lewis Morgan, 17 Jamie Hughes, 18 Paula Latu, 19 Barny Langton-Cryer, 20 Evan Minto, 21 Che Hope, 22 Ewan Rosser, 23 Ashton Hewitt.

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Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Bronson Mills, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Lubabalo Dobela, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Jarod Cairns, 7 Renzo du Plessis, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Ruan Venter, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Jaco Visagie (captain), 1 Juan Schoeman.

Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Izan Esterhuizen, 20 WJ Steenkamp, 21 Layton Horn, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Kelly Mpeku.

Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Luke Morgan, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morse, 7 Harri Deaves, 6 Will Griffiths, 5 James Fender, 4 James Ratti, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Steffan Thomas.

Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Garyn Phillips, 18 Kian Hire, 19 Lewis Jones, 20 Lewis Lloyd, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Iestyn Hopkins.

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Zebre: 15 Jacopo Trulla, 14 Scott Gregory, 13 Fetuli Paea, 12 Damiano Mazza, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Giovanni Montemauri, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Bautista Stavile, 6 Davide Ruggeri, 5 Leonard Krumov, 4 Matteo Canali, 3 Muhamed Hasa, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Danilo Fischetti (captain).

Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Paolo Buonfiglio, 18 Juan Pitinari, 19 Guido Volpi, 20 Giacomo Ferrari, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Luca Morisi, 23 Enrico Lucchin.

Connacht: 15 Santiago Cordero, 14 Shayne Bolton, 13 David Hawkshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Finn Treacy, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 Paul Boyle, 7 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 6 Cian Prendergast (captain), 5 Joe Joyce, 4 Josh Murphy, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley.

Replacements: 16 Eoin de Buitléar, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Darragh Murray, 20 Sean Jansen, 21 Matthew Devine, 22 Cathal Forde, 23 Piers O’Conor.

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Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Ethan Hooker, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Tino Mavesere, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Eben Etzebeth (captain), 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.

Replacements: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Nick Hatton, 21 Bradley Davids, 22 Francois Venter, 23 Yaw Penxe.

Scarlets: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Ellis Mee, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Archie Hughes, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Josh Macleod (captain), 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Alec Hepburn.

Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Dan Davis, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Efan Jones, 22 Ioan Lloyd, 23 Macs Page.

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Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Fintan Gunne, 8 Jack Conan (captain), 7 Scott Penny, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 James Ryan, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter.

Replacements: 16 Rónan Kelleher, 17 Jack Boyle, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Diarmuid Mangan, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ciarán Frawley, 23 Jamie Osborne.

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Kyle Rowe, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Kyle Steyn (captain), 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Ben Afshar, 8 Euan Ferrie, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Macenzzie Duncan, 5 Alex Samuel, 4 Jare Oguntibeju, 3 Fin Richardson, 2 Seb Stephen, 1 Jamie Bhatti.

Replacements: 16 Gregor Hiddleston, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Murphy Walker, 19 JP du Preez, 20 Scott Cummings, 21 Stafford McDowall, 22 George Horne, 23 Tom Jordan.

Dobson is a prick - Willemse has a great game at 12 last weekend only to find himself at 15 this week

Agree with you - Libbok has been three months out of the game and now he start at flyhalf. Nobody with even have a fucioning brancell - like Rooinek - would do what Dobson did, But then our 4 franchise coaches are all sub=standard,

rugby16 May 2025 01:26| © SuperSport

By:Gavin Rich

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John Dobson © Gallo Images

DHL Stormers coach John Dobson has admitted that he was a bit torn when he decided on a selection for the final Vodacom URC league game of the season that features 10 changes plus two positional switches from the one that beat the Dragons 48-12 last week.

He acknowledged that he was, as the old saying goes, between a rock and a hard place when it came to balancing the need to protect certain crucial players from potential injury and give others some game time to ready them for a possible call later in the competition, and a desire to maintain continuity and momentum heading towards a playoff phase that is two weeks away.

The Stormers end this phase of the season against Cardiff at DHL Stadium on Friday night effectively assured of a place in the playoffs. They need one log point from the game to make sure they avoid finishing eighth, which would mean a really tough away trip to the log winners, Leinster, in the quarterfinal.

Every other scenario is much of a muchness for the Stormers who, regardless of who they face, will be playing the playoff games away from Cape Town. Depending on the results this weekend, their likely destinations are Glasgow, which is least favoured from a travel viewpoint but that is counterbalanced by the Warriors’ form slump, and Durban and Pretoria, where the opposition is formidable and arguably stronger than Glasgow right now but the travel logistics will be so much easier to deal with.

IF GLASGOW, THEY WILL FLY EARLY

So it is a case of six of one and half a dozen of the other, and Dobson does have the comfort of knowing that if his team finishes fifth and Glasgow drop to fourth, which would happen if they lose to Leinster at the weekend and the Sharks beat the Scarlets, at least the gap because of next week’s European finals means they can travel earlier to Glasgow than they did last year.

“If we end up going to Glasgow we will be flying out next Friday, which gives us a whole week there and means we can train properly rather than lose training sessions like we do when we travel on the Tuesday,” said Dobson.

But while the risk to the Stormers’ log position and the impact of what defeat will mean is minimal this week, the big risk to fielding a changed-up team is the break in continuity and therefore potential break in momentum for a team that has been in outstanding form over the past few weeks heading into the playoff rounds.

First choice players like Warrick Gelant and Evan Roos, who have not been selected to play against Cardiff, will have had a three week break from the Dragons game by the time the Finals Series starts, which is borderline too long, and Dobson agrees.

“Losing momentum is a concern and there is a risk to doing what we are doing tomorrow (Friday) and I am a bit worried about that,” said Dobson as he explained his team selections.

“Also because the team is in such a good space. We have been really consistent over the last few games. But, for example, we do have to play Manie (Libbok). We’d like to have kept Sacha’s (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) innings going and keep that flow going, but the fact is that if Sacha gets injured ahead of the playoffs, then Manie would not have played at all.

“So Manie has to play, and to control his game time he has to start. It is not like looseforward, where you can cover for a guy if he is injured early in the game. If Sacha started and went down after five minutes, Manie is not ready to play 75 minutes. It does worry me a bit (looking ahead to the quarterfinal) as we are in such a nice space, but apart from needing to give players game time, there are also players we feel needed protecting.”

COACH’S REASONING DOES MAKE SENSE

This was going to be the game where the Stormers were thinking of unveiling a backline featuring Libbok at flyhalf, Feinberg-Mngomezulu at inside centre and Damian Willemse at outside, so the fact that they’d already completed their mission of making the playoffs last week definitely had an impact on the selection. However, Dobson’s reasoning does make sense.

“You have to look at the time of year and kick-off time. It is a tricky thing when it gets to this time of year,” said the Stormers director of rugby.

“It didn’t take too long to come up with this selection. The first imperative is that what is needed is that we win. There are also guys who are playing for us who have put a lot into the union, and this team won’t be playing at this stadium again, at least not in our colours. But we are in the playoffs and at this time of the season there are niggles.

“Evan, Warrick and Ali Vermaak are players we decided we couldn’t afford to do without in a quarterfinal. But we are still going all out to win against Cardiff. We chose Salmaan (Moerat) to lead us as we know he will keep the intensity up.

"We could otherwise have started with Connor Evans in this game, but we needed Salmaan to set the tone, because we don’t want another Ospreys experience (the Stormers lost unexpectedly at home to the Ospreys last season when fielding a weakened team).”

Another star player from the past few weeks who is not in the starting team is flanker Paul de Villiers but at least, like Feinberg-Mngomezulu, he will be playing off the bench.

STILL A VERY STRONG TEAM

And while the team is definitely weakened if you look at who has been left out, it remains a strong team.

“Maybe you guys are getting tired of hearing this now, but I am very excited about the path we are on and this team selection reflects that, with star players being left out but Springboks like Herschel Jantjies and Manie coming into the team. That we can change up selection like we have and still have such a strong side playing for us is a reflection that we are on the right path (when it comes to creation of depth).

Indeed, JD Schickerling coming in as the lock partner for Moerat to enable Ruben van Heerden to rest is also certainly not a backward step, and the return of Neethling Fouche at tighthead prop and Dan du Plessis to the midfield adds leadership to the team.

The game is a first start in the URC for young flanker Louw Nel and Dobson is excited to see how he goes.

“Someone like Evan (Roos) will be missed as he’s been immense over the past few weeks, but I think Louw Nel will be exceptional on the flank,” said Dobson.

DHL STORMERS: Damian Willemse, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Wandisile Simelane, Dan du Plessis, Leolin Zas, Manie Libbok, Herschel Jantjies, Marcel Theunissen, Louw Nel, Dave Ewers, JD Schickerling, Salmaan Moerat (captain), Neethling Fouché, Joseph Dweba, Sti Sithole.

Replacements: Scarra Ntubeni, Vernon Matongo, Sazi Sandi, Connor Evans, Paul de Villiers, Paul de Wet, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ben Loader.

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Three cheers for the URC!

Another full season has almost gone by and despite a couple of poor reffing performances, everybody involved played hard and fair.

With how so many Saffas are plying their trade abroad, the difficulty of the URC suites the SA teams nicely.

Game times are great and honestly it feels good have our rugby more aligned with European standards of professionalism.

I know there are some downsides, but if I was happy with our move to the URC, I'm even happier now that the experiment has produced fruit and SA rugby has only been on the up and up since the shift.

Plum fr change I agreee with you - bit it is worrisome that Rgby in New Zealand and Australa is hamprered by massive amounts Sperpsort paid those to countries as in gneral theya e losing money on uper Rugby that especiaky Autralia nees t keep Aussie rugbcompetitive,

The fact that Ne Zealand forced out SA from Super Rugby is to be reviewed next year as the situatin on Super Rgby is up for review in 2026, At this stae there ae no indications fo a change toallow Suth Afria to return to Super ugby and I in fact do not spport for the moving by SA back to Superrugby,

BB

Thanks for posting the abve Rich artcle, If the Stormers loses tonight tthat dumbo Dobsen should be fired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ,

You're welcome & yep our players average... what ? 2 games a month . Hardly an exhaustive schedule.

BB

Do you think New Zealand would try and get SA and Argentna back into Superrgby?