One of five DHL Stormers players with previous Champions Cup experience, Deon Fourie looks forward to taking on London Irish in a historic match at DHL Stadium tonight.

“It’s very exciting,” said Fourie. “It was always our goal to play at this level since last year when we joined the URC. There was always the possibility of South African teams joining the Heineken Champions Cup. It was our objective to get into the prestigious competition.

Team news: 50-up for Herschel as Stormers recall Bok duo

Fourie, a Stormers veteran of over 100 caps, is one of five players in the camp with previous experience of Europe’s top-flight club competition. The others include captain Steven Kitshoff, hooker Joseph Dweba, prop Brok Harris and back Alapati Leiua.

“Playing against top sides in Europe, you are facing teams that have got all the experience and quality players that are at the likes of Leinster and Munster, Harlequins and Leicester Tigers,” said Fourie, who played in the tournament with French side Lyon.

“Having experienced players who have played in the competition before will help us a lot”.

The Stormers are going into the match on the back of a 24-14 loss away to Clermont at the Stade Marcel-Michelin.

Fourie said the Stormers are taking confidence from their first-half performance in challenging conditions in France, which put the visitors 14-3 up at half time.

“The positive is that in the first half we showed that we are up there with the type of teams like Clermont. We did this without Frans Malherbe and a few disruptions before the game with Dan du Plessis having to withdraw from the matchday-23. We learned that we are capable as a team to perform at this level. We just need to perform for 80 minutes, like a quality side such as Clermont did. They quickly changed their game plan at half-time and put us under pressure.

“We just have to learn to adapt against teams that are good enough to change their tactics in a half. There are lots of learnings from this game [against Clermont], but also lots of positives. We are in this competition, and we know that we can compete against the good sides in the Champions Cup.”