DHL Stormers centre Ruhan Nel has scoffed at suggestions from Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter that the South African team will start as outright favourites to win Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup quarterfinal at Sandy Park.
Baxter said earlier in the week that he knew no-one would give his team a chance against the reigning Vodacom United Rugby Championship title holders, but it is a view that doesn’t really hold up as while Exeter have struggled recently with their form, they remain a difficult team to beat at home and boast a good record at their home ground of Sandy Park.
“Definitely if you ask me personally that is mind games,” said Nel. “No coach will tell a team are going to lose a quarterfinal at home. South African teams with the coaches they have love to play mind games, they do it all the time, and we are used to it when we play against each other in South Africa. To my mind, this is no different.”
Baxter argued his case on the basis of his team’s most recent result against Harlequins, who the Stormers beat in Cape Town last weekend to advance to the quarterfinal.
“They dealt with Harlequins pretty easily and Harlequins dealt with us pretty easily two weeks ago, so that’s it, it’s game over,” said Baxter.
It sounds like Baxter was being sarcastic, and he did follow up by saying the underdog tag was one that his team was happy to embrace.
“That is quite a nice place to start from us,” said Baxter.
TRAVEL FACTOR WORKS AGAINST VISITORS
If there was any seriousness in what Baxter had to say, his mind might have been changed by what the Stormers, like the other South African team in the Champions Cup quarterfinal round, the Cell C Sharks, have been through to get to their respective venues for Saturday (the Sharks are set to play French giants Toulouse).
Stormers defence coach Norman Laker confirmed that the circuitous route his team took to get to Exeter wasn’t in the initial planning.
“We wanted to leave on Monday evening, that was the plan, but I don’t think there were any flights,” said Laker.
“Then it came through that we were leaving in two groups on Tuesday. The flight I was going to be on had a technical error so we had to change airlines and fly via Dubai. It was a bit disruptive but we are not going to let worry about it and let it effect us.”
LESS MAY BE MORE
Where the Stormers’ situation appears to differ from that of the Sharks was that the Durbanites were always set to fly on Tuesday, and they had two training sessions before they flew out. According to Laker, the Stormers are going to be able to squeeze just two training sessions in this week.
“We will train tomorrow (Thursday) and again on Friday,” said the Stormers defence coach.
Far from being a problem, Nel reckons that the amount of time the Stormers players have spent on the training field recently means the shortened physical part of the buildup might actually be a blessing in disguise.
“We have played enough and we spent the extra time traveling working on Exeter and putting plans in place,” said the former Blitzbok star.
“There will be fewer practices this week than was intended, but it will help us be fresh and we feel sharp. I think less time on the field is a good thing for the team so it is not something we should be concerned about and we certainly won’t be using it as an excuse.”
NO POINT IN FIGHTING WHAT CAN’T BE CHANGED
That’s not to say though that Nel thinks the extra obstacles that are constantly thrown the way of the South African teams courtesy of the flight curve balls that keep cropping up are acceptable. Just that it is pointless detracting from the task at hand by devoting too much emotional energy to the problem in the buildup to a big game.
“Ideally direct flights are the first prize, but certain things can’t be changed so there is no use fighting against it. The guys accept now that they might have to take a flight or two longer to get to their destinations, so if we use that as a reason that we may not perform at the weekend we are looking for excuses,” said Nel.
“A couple of guys got into business class and that is helpful in that while we might lose out on a day of training, for those players it won’t be a case of taking a full day to get stiffness out of your body. In terms of traveling economy around the world, that is tough. But as I said earlier, maybe less time on the field is a good thing for the team.”
The Stormers team for Saturday’s quarterfinal will be named on Friday.