The DHL Stormers were disappointed to lose in the agonising fashion they did to La Rochelle in the Investec Champions Cup but there are some definite advantages to be had for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship challenge that resumes this week.
The Stormers face the Ospreys at DHL Stadium in a round 14 clash on Saturday evening before fronting mighty Leinster at the same venue a week later. There’s one immediate advantage the Stormers get from being knocked out in the round of 16 in the Champions Cup - they will have some of the players who were incapacitated during the La Rochelle game available for action.
“I wouldn’t say fortunately because we did want to go as far as we possibly could in the Champions Cup but us not playing this past weekend gave us a chance to recalibrate and for the players to get some rest,” said assistant coach Dawie Snyman.
“Obviously, Leolin Zas and Deon Fourie, who both had more serious injuries against La Rochelle, won’t be available this week, but the three guys who failed HIA tests (for concussion) are all going well with their protocols and could be available this week.”
According to Snyman, the time away from the field has seen the players arrive at the start of the buildup week to this fortnight's segment of two important URC games refreshed.
“The energy is very high at the moment and everyone was eager to get stuck into the training week ahead of the game against the Ospreys,” said Snyman
“Obviously, there is some hurting from the loss to La Rochelle, but we learned one or two things from that about playing high pressure games. We are going to have to be on point this weekend because the Ospreys have had a good season. They beat Sale Sharks in their round of 16 Challenge Cup game and earlier in the season they also beat Ulster.
“They are a proud club and their coach Toby (Booth) is a great guy, he’s very passionate, so we will have to prepare well this week,” added the assistant coach.
DEVELOPING DEPTH
Snyman said “we will take the advantages being knocked out gives us” in the URC but that the goal was for the Stormers to develop the depth that would enable them to compete well in both competitions without one of them being negatively impacted.
“What we’ve been through is all part of the process of learning in these competitions. We want success in both competitions. It would have been hard against Leinster but we would have liked to have played them (in the quarterfinal) and it would have been great for our confidence to get another win over La Rochelle, who are one of the top clubs in Europe.
“We know then we might have had problems preparing for the Ospreys, but we really want to put ourselves in a position where we can do well in both competitions. We believe we learned a lot from the La Rochelle game. We were 13-0 up at halftime and then we gave the momentum back to them. Against top teams if you give them momentum they hold onto it and that is what we learned to our cost.
“They get points against you by applying sustained pressure. Still, the fact we came so close in the playoff game after beating them in a pool game earlier in the season gave us the confidence of knowing we can beat anyone. And it doesn’t necessarily matter that much if you play at home or away. We saw Harlequins beat Bordeaux, who were in really good form, away this past weekend.”
Harlequins were the team that the Stormers beat in the Champions Cup to make last year’s quarterfinal, where they lost to Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park. Stormers coach John Dobson said back then that a place in the semifinals of the Champions Cup would have thrown his team’s URC challenge out, and as it was, the Stormers lost narrowly to Munster after returning from England a few days after that game.
A WEEK OFF
It is not just this week that Stormers advancing in the competition would have impacted on the URC, by not being in the last four the Cape team has another week off to look forward to on the European semifinal weekend.
“We have these two home games and then we have a break of a week before we go on tour, with the first game against the Dragons scheduled for a Friday night. It will be nice for us to be able to go there refreshed and off another break,” said Snyman.
The other Stormers game on tour is against Connacht in Galway, a venue where on their only previous visit the Stormers were unlucky to lose by a solitary point.