Seabelo Senatla warms the heart on a cold winter’s night in Cape Town

Seabelo Senatla was red hot on a wet and cold night in Cape Town, but what warmed the heart the most was Senatla writing another powerful chapter in his comeback from a car crash that threatened to end his career, writes Mark Keohane.

Damian Willemse played his 100th match for the Stormers and his 50th in the Vodacom Rugby United Championship. He is the 11th Stormers centurion and also the youngest to reach the milestone in the club’s history, having turned 27 years-old earlier this week.

Willemse was always going to shine, despite the terrible conditions. He scored a try, kicked two conversions and had one try ruled out when captain Salmaan Moerat was ridiculously ruled to have made an attempt at a neck roll. The match officiating remains the biggest curse in what is a very good rugby competition.

Willemse’s 100th will be remembered for moments of Stormers brilliance and not for a match that in any way was a contest. The Dragons, bottom of the league with one win in 17, were never going to threaten the Stormers charge to the play-offs, so there will be context to a comfortable 48-12 home win.

Willemse was outstanding among the backs, but it is Senatla who grows metres in stature with each playing opportunity this season.

Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson and backs coach Dawie Snyman have never doubted Senatla’s ability to fight back from 18 months on the sidelines with an injury so severe there was talk of an arm amputation. Senatla was never in doubt either that, if given the chance, he could rediscover those heights of a few seasons ago when he was picked for the Springboks alignment camp.

Senatla’s desperation to succeed, and his fight from within, is synonymous with the culture of Dobson’s Stormers.

These guys play for a bigger cause than a winning result. They play for the right to wear a jersey that is a symbol of hope and excellence and achievement in Western Province, from within Cape Town’s city bowl to all parts of the peninsula.

They lose matches, with eight defeats in their 17 URC matches the reality of the toughness of the league, but they never give up the fight, regardless of who is wearing the jersey. Each player has a story to tell that mirrors the collective of the Stormers culture.

This is evidenced by the team celebration of those players sitting on the replacement’s bench to the try-scorer.

These guys know the other’s hardships and individual journey in the jersey, and they play to honour that journey.

When Senatla finished off a stunning team try with the athleticism of an Olympian gymnast, his victory dance was one of applause to those teammates who made the final pass possible, as much as it was to his own contribution in the try.

There is such panache to the Stormers attack but there is as much mongrel in their desire to defend their try line, and it starts with the leader and No 4 lock Salmaan Moerat.

The Stormers should finish fifth after next weekend’s final league round and that would mean travelling to the team finishing fourth for a quarter-final, which is now looking like Glasgow’s Warriors, when for the past fortnight it appeared to be a trip to Durban to play the Sharks.

To win the title, the Stormers will have to do it away from home and Munster is an example that the play-offs can be turned into a three-week road trip with the most awesome title-winning ending.

Munster, in the second season of the URC, went to Glasgow and won the quarter-final, then flew to Dublin and beat Leinster to win the semi-final, got on a plane and travelled to Cape Town to beat the Stormers in front of 56 000 people at the DHL Stadium, 50 000 of them wearing blue and white.

The Stormers would have to follow a similar route, to Glasgow and Dublin, before probably heading to Durban or Pretoria for a final.

And that would be a blast because it would mean South Africa hosting every final in the league’s four year history.

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