Three losses, and the last one was a first half humiliation in Johannesburg, but that poor early season record from Edinburgh won’t dupe the DHL Stormers into thinking that they are up against anything other than a top team in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash at the Hive.
There’s a big difference between an Edinburgh team playing on their 4G pitch in the northern autumn in front of their own fans to playing against the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg in the early African summer - and effectively a lunch time kick-off to boot. There’s also a big difference between an Edinburgh team without Duhan van der Merwe, like they were agains the Lions, and one with the bulky and explosive British and Irish Lion in tow.
It is unclear what drove the 29-year-old Van der Merwe to miss the Johannesburg game, but Stormers defence coach Norman Laker says he is preparing his team to face an Edinburgh team with the wing in it. And he acknowledged that will require some extra work, as Edinburgh do make a lot of use of him when he is there and he is a big part of their attacking plan.
“I don’t know why Duhan didn’t play against the Lions. Maybe he was injured or he went to George to visit his family. I’m not sure why he didn’t play, but we will prepare as if he is on the left wing,” said Laker.
“Duhan is a quality rugby player. I was involved with the SA U20 side when he was there so I know him quite well. He’s a strong ball carrier, has a mean hand off and is quite quick as well. Scotland use him as one of their key game-breakers and it’s similar at Edinburgh. He gets them go-forward, so it’s important as an opposing team to devise a plan that stops him doing that.”
South African teams, like they used to be by the threat of the outsized legendary Jonah Lomu when the All Blacks and his Super Rugby teams came here, have proved quite good at keeping Van der Merwe quiet. He’s never scored against the Boks, and that includes games for both Scotland and the British and Irish Lions, and has only scored once (against the Bulls) against a South African franchise in the URC.
OPPONENTS ARE A QUALITY SIDE
Van der Merwe is not the only player in the Edinburgh team that Laker has had a hand in coaching at national age-group level. Prop Pierre Schoeman is another, while the hosts have a South African flavour to their coaching staff, with head coach Sean Everitt and his assistant Scot Mathie both being people that Laker knows well. So he knows full well the though processes that will be driving Edinburgh in their backs-to-the-wall scenario this week, and is wary of the wounded animal his team will face.
“We have played against them quite a few times, including the quarterfinals in the first year in Cape Town,” Laker said.
“They are a quality outfit. Even though they have three losses on the trot, in this competition there are no weak teams in this competition. Everyone knows that, and anyone can beat anyone on any given day. They are a great team. While they haven’t clicked at the moment, they can on Saturday and if they do it will be a different game.”
BULLISH FOR GOOD REASON
Laker was fairly bullish in the early week online press conference from Parma, where the Stormers comprehensively outplayed Zebre at the weekend, and he had good reason to be. The Cape side was only a matter of minutes away from keeping their opponents scoreless, and it was a massive step up from the performance against the Ospreys, where there were defensive errors.
Laker buys donuts for the entire team on the days they keep rugby’s equivalent of soccer’s clean sheet, and even though it would have been costly in Euros, he was looking forward to doing that before a moment of individual brilliance saw Zebre score a late try against the run of play.
“I would have happily bought donuts for the guys. To keep Zebre scoreless for 76 minutes and 35 seconds was something special, especially after conceding four tries in the first game, which was quite hurtful for us as a squad. We rectified a few things in the week and implemented that on Saturday evening. Zebre are a very good attacking side.
“Their head coach has a lot of experience and has a certain way he wants to play the game. They want to keep ball in hand and we felt we could apply pressure on them with that. We would have to move up quickly on defence or else we would concede tries like what happened to Munster the week before.”
Laker reported that there were no serious injuries sustained by the Stormers in the Parma game aside from the usual stiffness and odd niggle that is reported on a Monday after a tough, physical game.
The Stormers team for the Edinburgh game will be announced on Friday.