The Stormers have two league home matches in the next fortnight in which to break the URC crowd record for a league season.

Make it happen Cape Town and in doing so celebrate the late Stormers manager Chippie Solomon.

The Stormers play Ireland’s Connacht on Saturday in Cape Town and the league leaders Glasgow Warriors the following Saturday.

The Stormers are currently second in the URC (United Rugby Championship) and two successive wins would take them to first place with two final league matches to be played.

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Should the Stormers finish first they would host every play-off match, if successful in the quarter-finals and semi-finals. Should they finish second, they would be guaranteed a home quarter-final and, if successful, a home semi-final.

The Stormers, driven by a desire to honour Chippie in the best possible way, want the wins and they want the crowd to give Chippie the most glorious of rugby send-offs.

It is going to be a tough ask because the broadcast scheduling of the early kick-off (13.45) on Saturday means that the Stormers will lose as many as 5000 guaranteed spectators because the match time clashes with all the First XV Schools matches in the Western Cape.

This is a huge blow to Saturday’s crowd numbers, especially with the country’s oldest Schools rugby fixture, between Bishops and SACS, played at the same time, just a few kilometres away in Cape Town’s southern suburbs.

The Stormers, in the history of the URC, average 27 000 in crowd attendance at the DHL Stadium, and if 27 000 turned up on Saturday and next Saturday the URC league season record would belong to Cape Town rugby supporters and the Stormers.

Leinster are the current holders, but that record was influenced with their derby match against Munster played in front of 82 000 at Croke Park. The Aviva Stadium in Dublin, home to Leinster’s marquee matches, takes 50 000 and Leinster’s ‘home club ground’ in Dublin takes 18 000.

The Stormers have made Cape Town South Africa’s rugby capital

The Stormers crowd attendance at DHL Stadium tells the real story.

Cape Town is South Africa’s rugby capital and the numbers back it.

The Stormers hold the record for the biggest attendance (in excess of 56 000) in a final, against Munster in the second season of the URC, when they lost in the final two minutes. The Stormers won the inaugural URC title at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town against the Bulls. Covid restrictions limited the ‘capacity crowd’ to 34 000.

Saturday’s match will have significance because the Stormers will pay tribute to their long-time manager Chippie Solomon, whose memorial service will be held at Kuilsriver Rugby Club on Sunday. Chippie was the honoury life president of Kuilsriver Rugby Club. His funeral service will be in Kuilsriver next Tuesday, 21st April.

‘It has been an incredibly emotional week, given the tragic circumstances. It is going to be the strangest of experiences not having Chippie in the change room, given he was there since 2004. We want to honour him with the way we play and it would add to the occasion to have a Cape Town crowd packed into the DHL Stadium to remember Chippie as much as to watch his boys play,’ said Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson.

URC crowd record: Stormers call on Cape Town

Leinster’s season record is 241 393 and currently the Stormers attendance for the URC 2025/26 season is 197,737

Photo by Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images

URC Attendance Tables

The Record, The Rise & The Stormers Chase

URC Season 2 (First full crowd season)

• Leinster Rugby 165,542 (Season leader)
• DHL Stormers 151,314
• Hollywoodbets Sharks 140,527
• Ulster Rugby 121,290
• Munster Rugby 116,862
• Vodacom Bulls 116,818
• Ospreys 87,537
• Dragons RFC 81,935
• Edinburgh Rugby 75,482
• Scarlets 73,000
• Cardiff Rugby 69,475
• Fidelity Lions 67,357
• Glasgow Warriors 58,173
• Connacht Rugby 48,419
• Benetton Rugby 31,263
• Zebre Parma 19,526

URC Season 3 

• DHL Stormers 210,096 (Season leader)
• Leinster Rugby 171,122
• Vodacom Bulls 146,778
• Hollywoodbets Sharks 145,016
• Munster Rugby 129,580
• Ulster Rugby 118,505
• Edinburgh Rugby 91,798
• Cardiff Rugby 89,686
• Scarlets 77,695
• Fidelity Lions 74,594
• Glasgow Warriors 61,012
• Ospreys 49,186
• Connacht Rugby 48,027
• Dragons RFC 46,689
• Benetton Rugby 44,192
• Zebre Parma 21,900

URC Season 4 (Leinster set the all-time record)

• Leinster Rugby 241,393 (All-time URC record)
• DHL Stormers 226,377 (Second overall and a Stormers URC home record)
• Hollywoodbets Sharks 180,124
• Vodacom Bulls 126,507
• Munster Rugby 125,832
• Ulster Rugby 115,552
• Edinburgh Rugby 94,814
• Glasgow Warriors 81,046
• Cardiff Rugby 78,719
• Dragons RFC 69,601
• Connacht Rugby 67,369
• Scarlets 61,510
• Fidelity Lions 61,288
• Ospreys 60,557
• Benetton Rugby 42,083
• Zebre Parma 23,483

URC Season 5 (Two home league matches for the Stormers and Leinster respectively)

• DHL Stormers 197,737
• Leinster Rugby 158,777
• Hollywoodbets Sharks 137,428
• Vodacom Bulls 106,167
• Munster Rugby 98,752
• Edinburgh Rugby 72,549
• Ulster Rugby 71,241
• Glasgow Warriors 69,902
• Cardiff Rugby 59,018
• Connacht Rugby 51,350
• Scarlets 44,465
• Fidelity Lions 43,711
• Dragons RFC 41,745
• Ospreys 34,889
• Benetton Rugby 34,135
• Zebre Parma 21,123

What Cape Town needs to know

• URC Record (Leinster): 241,393
• Stormers Best (URC 4): 226,377
• Stormers Now (URC 5): 197,737

Cape Town has already changed the URC crowd narrative and turned the DHL Stadium into an occasion bigger than a rugby match. On Saturday, make it even bigger Cape Town with the loudest of celebrations in memory of Chippie, and a turn out that is a giant step towards breaking the league season’s URC record.

* URC 1st season: Covid restrictions