Although there have been changes to their starting personnel that is no way a reflection of what the DHL Stormers’ intent will be when they open their Investec Champions Cup campaign against Bayonne in France on Friday night.
Coach John Dobson says while his team is still a bit short of being champion material in the elite European competition, winning the competition is part of the long term plan, as he knows it is for the Vodacom Bulls and the Hollywoodbets Sharks.
In that respect this season will be an important stepping stone towards becoming competitive and he is planning and expecting a big improvement from last year’s performance, where his team failed to get out of their Pool, and has set his team’s sights on a home playoff.
“We want a home round of 16 game at DHL Stadium, like we had in our earlier years of playing in the Champions Cup,” said Dobson from France after naming a team featuring seven changes from the one that beat Munster in a top of the table Vodacom URC clash in Limerick last week.
Dobson acknowledged that his team’s position in the URC, plus a bit of a good break this time when it comes to logistics, makes it more possible for his team to go all out in the first two games of the competition, with the game in Bayonne being followed by a home clash with two time champions La Rochelle in Gqeberha next weekend.
“Last year we started at home and then were on the back foot when we lost a very physical game against Toulon,” recalled Dobson.
“Our Champions Cup games were sandwiched in between two big URC derbies (Sharks in Durban and then Lions followed by the Sharks in Cape Town) and we were struggling in the URC so we had to go with an under-strength team to our second match against Harlequins in London.
"We did do some good things in the Champions Cup (they thrashed Sale Sharks in Cape Town in January) but we were behind the eight-ball from the start and we didn’t make it into the round of 16.
“This time, with last week’s game in Limerick being perfectly timed as we could mix up our URC and Champions Cup goals on the same trip, and didn’t have to send out a separate team for the Champions Cup game, we have the draw working for us.
"The only time we may be compromised is later in the competition when we are set to play Harlequins overseas with a short turnaround before an important URC game.”
We are coming in hot to Gqeberha next week! Don't miss out on another Investec Champions Cup epic at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) December 3, 2025
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EMBRACING THE CHALLENGE
However, Dobson said being on top of the URC log did take some of the pressure off, in contrast to this time last year, and for that matter the seasons before that, where the Stormers made a slow start to their URC campaigns and were in a desperate must win situation in the URC when December arrived.
“That does make a big difference, as does the confidence we have built by winning six games in a row,” said the Stormers coach.
Indeed, four of those six games were overseas, which means the Stormers have emphatically removed the monkey from their back when it came to playing overseas, and last week’s match away to Munster was perfect preparation for the noise they are likely to encounter from the home fans.
Bayonne is noted as one of the more passionate and loud venues in French club rugby, and that is saying something, but Dobson says his team is not scared of the challenge.
“I have told them to embrace the challenge, this is a great experience for us and even if something does go wrong and we don’t reach our target of winning, we will still get something out of this game (from an experience viewpoint),” said Dobson.
He added though that the aim was to win the game, something he was confident his men could do even though Bayonne have a formidable record at home and have not lost at Stade Jean-Dauger since they lost their EPCR Challenge Cup round of 16 clash with the Bulls earlier this year.
It needs to be remembered too that the French club tend to revolve their approach to the EPCR competitions around how they are doing in the Top 14.
With Bayonne currently placed in the top six of the French league they too can go for broke so Friday night’s game could be well worth waiting up to watch.
Our teams take Europe ✈️🗺️
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) December 3, 2025
Who are you backing to go furthest this season? 👀
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LOFTUS DEPENDS ON WHO IS PLAYING
You won’t have to wait up if you want to watch the Bulls host champions Bordeaux-Begles at Loftus on Saturday evening, and the 5:10pm kick-off time is perfect too if you are looking for a high quality tempo game.
The Bulls, being more acquainted with the heat on the highveld at this time of the year, might have preferred an early kickoff, as after all they had a good warmup for that last week against the Lions, but it does make for better rugby and also more comfortable conditions for the spectators.
The Champions Cup teams only get to be announced the afternoon before the game as per an EPCR condition so neither team has been announced yet and the team announcements will tell us a lot about what can be expected from this game.
Bordeaux have a phalanx of top French players, such as the wings Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Damian Penaud, who scored six tries in the rout of the Sharks last season, and flyhalf Mathieu Jalibert, on their books, but it is often the case that French teams don’t target their away games. And particularly not when the game in question is in South Africa.
However, a glance at their fixture list will disclose that they are at home to the Scarlets in the second round, and shouldn’t have too much problem beating the Welsh URC stragglers even with a second string side.
Bordeaux at full strength will be a formidable prospect for the Bulls, even at home, and if they are at full strength they should start as favourites - even if the Bulls have their Boks back. That is because, as we saw in their loss to Ulster in Belfast in October, the Bulls may struggle to gel immediately with different players coming back into the system.
What is not up for debate is how important this game is for the Bulls if they want to challenge for a home round of 16 game. They are due at Northampton next week, but that is a Sunday game, with just six days separating it from when they have to be in Durban to play the Sharks in a crucial URC derby.
So the chances are coach Johan Ackermann will be going under-strength to Franklin Gardens. That ups the ante in this game - the Bulls are under pressure to win at all costs.
NO EXPECTATION FOR SHARKS IN TOULOUSE
The Sharks are arguably the local team under least pressure this week as they should be heading into Sunday’s clash with Toulouse with no expectations.
It is unlikely coach John Plumtree will be returning any of his Boks to the fold for the game as he said long ago that it will be the home game against Saracens next week, following just a six day turnaround, that will be prioritised.
Depending on how under-strength they are, this game could turn ugly in terms of one-sidedness if the Sharks, who were outplayed by Connacht in Galway last week, allow Toulouse to get early momentum.
SA fixtures in first round of Investec Champions Cup
Bayonne v DHL Stormers (Bayonne, Friday 10pm)
The Stormers made seven changes to the team that started in the good win over Munster last week, but what is perhaps more significant is that coach John Dobson has again gone for his supersonic bench, with JD Schickerling and Adre Smith again two formidable locks backing up while Ali Vermaak and Sazi Sandi are strong props. And then there’s Evan Roos, who this week will come off the bench so that Ruan Ackermann can start at No 8.
The injury to Jurie Matthee has seen Clinton Swart come in at flyhalf, and he will be outside the exciting young scrumhalf Imad Khan, who is making his first start for the Stormers at this level. How those too settle in what should be a hostile environment the likes of which they wouldn’t have experienced before could determine the Stormers’ chances of winning. The Stormers are slight favourites at the bookies and I’d say that is about right but there’s no clear favourite in this game against a team that boasts an excellent home record.
Prediction: Stormers to scrape it.
Vodacom Bulls v Bordeaux Begles (Pretoria, Saturday 5:10pm)
The Bulls were due to announce on Thursday but were then reminded of the EPCR protocol, so we won’t know until later on Friday who will be fronting for them against the tournament champions. You can expect to see several Boks back, but given that the likes of Canan Moodie, Wilco Louw, Ruan Nortje and company were involved in last weekend’s final Springbok test match of the year in Cardiff, how many?
It would be easier to predict what might happen if we knew who was playing for the hosts, but maybe even more so for the visiting team, who have some legendary French stars in their ranks. If they are here, then it could be a difficult night out for the Bulls.
Prediction: Bordeaux to win by less than 7
Toulouse v Hollywoodbets Sharks (Toulouse, Sunday 5:15pm)
The Sharks team will only be announced later but the smart money will be on them going in significantly under-strength for this game against the multiple champions. No team has won the Champions Cup more than Toulouse, and if the Sharks go in without their top players this should be a one-sided game.
Prediction: Toulouse by more than 20
The other Champions Cup games:
Sale v Glasgow Warriors (Sale, Friday 10pm)
Saracens v Clermont-Auvergne (Saracens, Saturday 3pm)
La Rochelle v Leicester Tigers (La Rochelle, Saturday 7:30pm)
Leinster v Harlequins (Dublin, Saturday 7:30pm)
Scarlets v Bristol (Llanelli, Saturday 10pm)
Bath v Munster (Bath, Saturday 10pm)
Pau v Northampton (Pau, Sunday 3pm)
Gloucester v Castres (Gloucester, Sunday 5:15pm)
Edinburgh v Toulon (Edinburgh, Sunday 7:30pm)