Stormers coach John Dobson has hailed Springbok flank Pieter-Steph du Toit after his man-of-the-match performance in their victory over the Sharks in Durban.
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Du Toit continued a remarkable comeback from his long-term leg injury with another brilliant performance as the Stormers snatched a 25-20 win on Saturday, thanks to a penalty from flyhalf Tim Swiel.
After being rested according to Springbok protocol for last week’s win over the Lions, Du Toit made his presence felt against the Sharks, propelling himself into tackle after tackle and making plenty of carries as well.
To go with that, the World Cup winner scored a try when he ran an excellent line on to a pass from Herschel Jantjies and cut through the Sharks defence, showing that his injury hasn’t reduced any of his pace.
‘I would even suggest that he wasn’t quite at the level of his performances against the Sharks and Bulls at home,’ Dobson said when asked about Du Toit’s performance after the match.
‘He is a remarkable machine. 80 minutes of that, it’s great for South African rugby. We are very, very proud of him.
‘It’s like he was never injured,’ Dobson added. ‘That was also true in the first game against the Sharks at Cape Town Stadium. I didn’t know he was man of the match until now, but that is brilliant.’
After Saturday’s win the Stormers resurrected their hopes of finishing top of the Rainbow Cup SA and progressing through to the final against the northern section’s best team.
Dobson’s side next face a crucial clash with the table-topping Bulls in Pretoria after this weekend’s bye, with a number of Stormers players gathering for the Springbok alignment camp.
‘It will be a very important game. It is one of South African rugby’s classics. They are the form team,’ Dobson said.
‘We will have nine guys out at the alignment camp. We will probably let Ruhan Nel go and spend the week with the [Springbok] Sevens team. So, there is not much we can do in terms of team preparation. All we can do is train the rest of the squad as best we can.
‘We will keep all the analysis and our plans for the Bulls game for Monday week. There’s no point in doing it without nine or 10 of our players here.’
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images
