URC side on verge of SOS call to Johan Ackermann

The Stormers are considering making an emergency save our season call to Johan Ackermann to help beleaguered boss John Dobson after slipping to a third defeat in five games this season.

Saturday afternoon's 28-17 defeat to Glasgow Warriors has left them looking over their shoulders towards the bottom of the United Rugby Championship table and could ask the former Gloucester and Red Hurricanes coach to help out.

Dobson’s side are now just three points and three places ahead of Zebre, who are propping up the table as they head into a four-week international break, and one of the longest-serving bosses in South Africa says they are up against it now.

“We are up against it now. Today would have been important for the log and our morale going into the break. We know we aren’t the biggest chequebook team in the league. But we pride ourselves on exceeding the sum of our parts.”

The Cape Town outfit are weighing up getting in some help for underfire Dobson for when they return to action for the coastal derby against the Sharks in Durban on 30 November, and Ackermann is one of the names they are looking at.

Ackermann, who is currently consulting and mentoring at Japan League One outfit Urayasu D-Rocks, has taken a step back from day-to-day involvement in coaching at the end of last season.

Former Springbok lock Ackermann, 54, last worked in his homeland with the Lions in 2017 but told the podcast To the Last Drop in August that he misses working in South Africa and with South African players.

The 2014 SARU Coach of the Year award winner, one of the highest-profile, highly-rated South African coaches, is in the final year of his contract in Japan and has been looking at his options in Japan, South Africa and Europe.