Roche fired up for Esterhuizen battle as Stormers and Sharks collide

Rising Stormers midfield talent Jonathan Roche is fired up for his battle with Sharks captain and Springbok star Andre Esterhuizen, when the teams collide in their United Rugby Championship (URC) return clash at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday evening (kick-off 5pm).

It’s an immediate rematch and chance for the Stormers to bounce back from their first URC defeat of the season, after the Sharks stunned them 30-19 in Cape Town last weekend, and both teams will be going all out to get the win.

The Stormers will want to consolidate their spot at the top of the URC standings and get back to winning ways, while the Sharks are still languishing in the bottom half in 11^th place and want to continue their climb up the log.

Starting lineup

The 22-year-old Roche did not feature during the first derby between the two at a sold out Cape Town Stadium, but has been elevated straight into the starting lineup for the Durban encounter, with Damian Willemse moving to fullback to accommodate the change.

It puts him in direct competition with hybrid star Esterhuizen, which is one of the biggest challenges he is facing in his fledgling career, and is relishing it.

“If I get the opportunity (to face Esterhuizen) I’ll take it with both hands. He’s an incredible player and you can see how well he played last weekend and was man-of-the-match,” said Roche earlier in the week before the team announcements.

“He is a phenomenal player, he’s got everything going for him. He’s a forward, he’s a back, he can kick, he can pass, he can run, he can step and he’s got some good speed. So it would be an awesome opportunity (to take him on).

“You obviously want to play against the best to grow as a player, and if you play against better players you will have to try and step up every time.”

Sacha link-up

Roche is also looking forward to linking up with his former school senior and rising Springbok star Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who has been named captain again and will be leading the team as the flyhalf general.

“Sacha was a year ahead of me at school. We played one match together and then the Covid-19 pandemic hit,” explained Roche.

“Sacha’s trajectory is phenomenal. He is extremely talented, but what people don’t always see is his work ethic and what he does behind the scenes. He works very hard and his attention to detail is at a high level. He’s a phenomenal guy to look up to. A true role model.”

Roche believes that if the team can go back to the basics and fix the little things, they will be able to overturn the past weekend’s result against the Sharks.

“I think we lost a few big moments in that game, and it’s stuff that we are known to be good at. Like our lineouts, and a few key moments on their line. So I think we must just be focused on ourselves and get our fundamentals back to where they were and we should be fine,” said Roche.