Can the Stormers ride terrific form into URC semifinals?

It will be a tough ask but the Stormers will be hoping to ride a wave of terrific form into the semifinals of the United Rugby Championship (URC) when they battle it out against Glasgow Warriors in their quarterfinal in Scotland next week.

The Stormers have been one of the form teams in the URC down the back straight of the pool phase, after a poor start to their season had threatened to derail their campaign early on.

After 11 rounds the Stormers had won just four games, while losing seven, and were languishing at 10th place on the URC log, leaving them in a massive battle to make it into the top eight for a place in the playoffs.

But suddenly it seemed like a switch was flipped and the Cape side have gone on to win six of their last seven pool games to power up the log to finish in fifth place, earning them a return trip to Glasgow for another knockout.

Last year the Stormers were downed 27-10 in their quarterfinal in Scotland, with Glasgow going on to upset Munster and the Bulls to lift the URC title.

The defending champs will likely have to produce a similar run if they want to repeat the trick this season, but they won’t be as heavy favourites against the Stormers, as they were last season.

Great form

Not only are the Stormers in great form, but they also seem to be more confident on the road in Europe, which is something they have struggled with immensely over the past four seasons in the URC.

They were initially poor away again this season, losing three of their first four matches overseas, with just a 36-5 win over Zebre in Italy to boast about, while they went down 37-24 to Ospreys in Swansea, 38-7 to Edinburgh in Scotland and 36-12 to Leinster in Dublin.

But their last overseas tour will have given them a shot in the arm as they brushed aside Scarlets 29-17 in Llanelli, before being edged 38-34 by Ulster in Belfast, as discipline cost them with yellow and red cards resulting in them playing with 13 men at a stage. But they still could have won the game at the death.

The Stormers could also have been boosted by only having to focus on the URC down the back straight, as they were dumped out of the Champions Cup early after winning just one out of four games to finish bottom of their pool, knocking them completely out of the EPCR.

Glasgow, however, reached the knockouts and made it to the quarterfinals, where they were unceremoniously hammered 52-0 by Leinster to end their campaign.

In all it should be a thoroughly entertaining encounter, with Glasgow probably slight favourites due to them being hosts, but their poor finish to the URC pool phase, losing their last three games, will definitely have given the in-form Stormers confidence of causing an upset.