OPINION: Stormers in dreamland after unbeaten start to season

The Stormers are enjoying the best start to a season by a South African franchise since they moved north after Covid, and it has to be asked: How far will they be able to go?

The Stormers have won all nine of their matches so far this campaign, and will head into a new year unbeaten for the first time since entering the United Rugby Championship (URC) and Champions Cup tournaments.

They are currently top of the URC log, although Munster could go past them should they beat Leinster this weekend.

The Cape side also top their Champions Cup pool, after wins over Aviron Bayonnais and La Rochelle, sitting level on points with Leinster, but ahead on points difference.

They will thus enter 2026 in a superb position in both competitions, and it will be interesting to see how many more games they can win until their unbeaten run comes to an end.

It will be immediately tested on the first weekend of January, when the Stormers host fierce Highveld rivals, the Bulls, in what should be a sold-out North-South derby in Cape Town.

Derby danger

The Bulls are currently in poor form, but can never be underestimated, and the last four derbies between them have been evenly shared, while last season they beat each other on their home turfs, with the Bulls triumphing in Cape Town before the Stormers hit back in Pretoria.

So, anything can happen and the Bulls will be desperate to break a five-game losing streak, while the Stormers will be eager to make it 10 out of 10.

It is then back to the Champions Cup for two matches, where the Stormers will take on Harlequins in England, and host Leicester Tigers in Cape Town.

Due to their current position, the Stormers will definitely be eyeing a home playoff in the competition, so they need at least one win out of those games, so it could see them send an understrength squad to London.

Could their winning run finally end there, or will it still be intact when they welcome Leicester to the coast?

The Stormers’ final game in January is a third straight local home derby, as they take on the Sharks in a coastal tussle in Durban, and it will be another tough encounter that could go either way.

A tough four games thus await the in-form Stormers to start the new year, and we will have to wait and see if their winning run will end at nine, or possibly extend to 13.