Stormers becoming more confident about playing at altitude

The DHL Stormers have struggled in Johannesburg in recent years but they believe that they’ve started to make adjustment that help them adapt to the altitude and they are starting to pay off enough to put them in a confident mind space heading into this weekend's Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby.

The Cape team plays the Emirates Lions in the last fixture of a four-match sequence of derbies on Saturday, and with just one derby remaining after this (against the Bulls in Cape Town on 9 April), they regard it as a crucial moment in their URC campaign.

Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani acknowledges that Emirates Airlines Park has been a bit of a hoodoo venue, but points to the Stormers’ unexpected win over the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria a few weeks ago as evidence that they are improving and don't have too much to fear when it comes to playing in the rarefied air of the highveld.

“In the past couple of years, the Lions have started to use the altitude to their advantage by playing with tempo and the coastal teams certainly feel it when they do that,” said Hlungwani.

“It is something that over the years we have recognised, and we have been working really hard on trying to improve. We do things like working on the intensity and tempo in training, we create an environment during the training week where we assimilate the speed and intensity of what we feel we will be up against on match day.

“The Lions just never give you a chance to breathe, they come at you the whole time, but we have worked on trying to improve how we deal with it and finding ways to overcoming it, and I think the evidence is there that we are starting to get it right. Against the Bulls at Loftus we were able to compete in the last five or six minutes of the game. That gives us confidence and we go to Joburg knowing what to expect and we are ready for it.”

Indeed, while the Lions have won many games against the Stormers or Western Province on their home field with strong finishes in the last quarter, there was also a time recently where the Stormers won late at Emirates Airlines Park. That was when centre Ruhan Nel scored off the last move of the game to win what turned out to be the last ever global Super Rugby game played between the teams at the venue in 2020.

LEARNT FROM CAPE TOWN LOSS

The last time the Stormers played the Lions though was just two months ago in Cape Town, and that didn’t turn out well for them. The hosts had a lot of the game in terms of possession and territory, but the Lions soaked up the pressure and ran out comfortable winners.

Outwardly it was a result that appeared to really hurt the Stormers, but Hlungwani and veteran openside flank Deon Fourie give the impression that perhaps it had the opposite effect.

“We were all very disappointed with that loss. We made a lot of errors that brought them into the game, and we turned over a lot of ball that they used effectively,” said the forwards coach.

“But we learned from that, and we have worked hard on protecting the ball and carrying better. In the last three games we have started seeing the results of that and we hope to improve on that further in the game coming up and the weeks beyond that.”

Fourie concurred that the DHL Stadium game was an important learning experience for the young Stormers team.“I was injured for that game but obviously watched it. When it goes wrong like that usually it all comes down to personal mistakes, guys going off plan and trying to create something out of nothing under pressure and then forcing things,” said Fourie.

“But that is where guys learn, in games like that. As long as learn from every game then the team is improving. You’re not going to be 100 percent in every game. But we felt we learned a lot from our first game against the Sharks (in Durban) and then we proved we’d done that by doing well against them in Cape Town. Since the Lions game we feel we have been steadily improving both as a team and as individuals.”

LIKE RED WINE

Fourie won the man of the match award for his performance at the breakdowns at the Sharks and for his generally tireless performance, and the contributions of 35-year-old Fourie and 36-year-old Brok Harris, who was playing his landmark 100th game, in the game against the Sharks drew praise from Hlungwani.

“They are both like red wine, in the sense that they get better and better with age,” said Hlungwani.

“The experience they bring is invaluable. There are times when the coach can’t be on the field so having guys like Brok and Deon is like having an extra coach. They know what to look for from the coach’s side. That comes with time. They pick up what the coaches give you before the game and then translate it for the players on the field.

“Deon is a guy who helps me as the forwards coach to keep the standards up in training. Deon doesn’t just talk, he also puts in the extra work.”