They are languishing 10th on the Vodacom United Rugby Championship log and have just come off a narrow home defeat to their arch-rivals but that doesn’t appear to have dampened the enthusiasm of the players and coaches at the DHL Stormers.
The Cape side travel to Johannesburg for a round 11 clash with the Emirates Lions that is made much more difficult through the 2.30pm kick-off at altitude on a summer afternoon. That’s the timing that makes winning away against the Lions such a tough task for overseas teams, and it is not much different for the local coastal teams, the Stormers and the Hollywoodbets Sharks.
One advantage the two coastal teams have over the overseas teams though when they go to the highveld at this time of the year, is that at least they are not experiencing a change of seasons when they travel. It is summer in Durban and Cape Town, and not winter like it is in the northern hemisphere.
The need to adjust to heat is therefore not so acute, and the Stormers have taken additional steps this week to ensure they will be ready for the conditions they will face at Emirates Airlines Park - they have done their training at the Faure Street Stadium in Paarl.
There may only be 60 or so kilometres separating Paarl from Cape Town, but there is a big difference in terms of it being well away from the coast, which means no cooling sea breeze, and a much drier heat than what is experienced at their regular training venues in Bellville or DHL Stadium.
The Stormers hope that training in the more stifling conditions in Paarl will help them be more ready for Johannesburg, but otherwise, apart from the obvious scrumming woes experienced last week in the narrow defeat to the Bulls and the ongoing lineout malfunctions, they don’t feel they need to reinvent anything.
On the contrary, even though the momentum picked up in the two derby wins over the festive season has been blunted by consecutive defeats to Leinster and the Bulls, the Stormers feel like they are building to something good.
“The main thing is always the result so it hurts a lot to have lost the Bulls game but there were some good signs and stuff to build on, which is exciting,” said Stormers attack coach Dawie Snyman.
“It feels like we’re moving forward as a team in terms of where we are in the season. There is obviously stuff we have to work on, but there’s also some good stuff we can build on.”
UPBEAT DESPITE THE LOSS
Snyman has reason to feel upbeat as his team was well beaten at forward for much of the match and yet they somehow managed to score five tries to the Bulls’ four, an indication that at least his area of expertise is going well. However, he is under no illusions that the Stormers will have to be more clinical on both sides of the ball at a venue where you can be badly hurt if you get it wrong.
“Ellis Park is a place where you can be on the attack and then make one mistake and there is a 80-metre kick that completely transfers the pressure onto you, or there is a break out that leads to a try,” he said in reference to the fast playing surface and the rarified atmosphere that has a big impact on the distance the ball can fly as much as it does on the lungs.
“The Lions have always been a side that if you don’t get it right at Ellis Park, they can punish you. But it’s not just a defensive problem we need to solve; it’s how we play and tactically how we approach the game. There are great players at the Lions and we are aware of them, and we have to make sure we don’t give them space or time on the ball and also opportunities to attack us off our mistakes.”
The Stormers team will be announced on Friday but there’s a good chance they could be bolstered by the return of two players who were missed for the depth they bring to the area where the Stormers struggled last week, the scrums, in the Cape Town derby.
Snyman confirmed that both Neethling Fouche and Ali Vermaak were back in training, although at the time he was speaking, no decision had been made over whether they were in the selection mix for this weekend’s match.