The Stormers welcome Irish giants Leinster to Cape Town for their opening match of the URC season on Friday night.
Stormers flyer Seabelo Senatla is confident that they can get their season off to a fast start, despite coming up against United Rugby Championship (URC) defending champions, Leinster, in their opening match at the Cape Town Stadium on Friday night.
The Stormers have usually gotten off to a slow start in the URC, although they have also played away from home most of the time at the start of the season, so they will be eager to make use of their home ground advantage in their first two games before they head off on tour.
Irish giants Leinster are a tough challenge so early in the season, but Senatla explained that getting an early win over them would give the team confidence and momentum to take into the early stages of their campaign.
“The challenge of playing Leinster at home first up is a great one and one we are really looking forward to,” said Senatla earlier this week.
“We haven’t started at home for a couple of years and we have become known as a team that makes slow starts in the competition.
“But it helps to be starting out in front of our faithful supporters and it is a great challenge to be playing Leinster in the first round. If we can do well in this game, we know we will have set the standard for the season ahead.”
Missing Boks
The Stormers will be without their Springbok contingent, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Damian Willemse and Cobus Reinach on national duty, while they will also be missing a few key players through injury, such as regular captain Salmaan Moerat and Frans Malherbe.
But Senatla says the current playing group has been preparing well and have more than enough firepower to challenge a Leinster side that although not at full strength, have welcomed back a few key players from injury, namely Robbie Henshaw, Jordan Larmour and Will Connors.
“It’s been a couple of weeks that we’ve been working hard, and trying some new things. We’re also super excited because we have some beautiful plans. We just have to trust our bodies now and execute,” said Senatla.
Speaking about his own preparation he added: “I’m pretty happy with where I’m at. There’s still a lot of rust and you can see there’s still a bit of sharpening to do, so the work is not done yet. But overall, it’s a beautiful place to be now and the fruits we’re seeing already, is really satisfying.”
Following the Leinster match the Stormers host Ospreys next week Friday, before departing on a three game tour which in turn leads into the international break in November.
So it is vital for them to try and pick up two home wins, and take that momentum overseas where they will hope to pick up another few wins to set them up well early in the competition.
