They're one of the giants of European rugby, according to coach John Dobson.
The Stormers are still on track to reach their goal of qualifying for the Champions Cup round of 16, but don’t have home advantage in their own hands ahead of their final pool match against Leicester Tigers at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
The Cape side’s stunning 10-game winning start to the season came to a shuddering halt over the past weekend when an understrength team was destroyed by struggling Harlequins 61-10 at Twickenham Stoop in London.
But with the top four teams from each pool progressing to the playoffs the Stormers are still well placed in third, thanks to their wins over French teams Aviron Bayonnais and La Rochelle in December.
The Leicester clash is, however, a must-win match, as they could be overhauled by the English side and La Rochelle if they slip up, while they will be gunning for a bonus point win to give them their best chance of finishing second in the pool, but will need Harlequins to lose their last pool game.
‘Very big game now’
Director of Rugby John Dobson was unhappy with the team’s performance over the past weekend, but believes they will be able to bounce back at home on Saturday.
“Our plan to get into the round of 16 is still on track, but not like this. If we had lost 9-0 and got nothing out of this game (against Harlequins), we would’ve felt better,” explained Dobson.
“But Leicester has become a very big game now. Our future is in our hands and if we win the game, we should host a playoff.
“Mercifully, there are no big injuries. There were some nice touches from certain players, especially off the bench [at the weekend]. This is [now] almost a knockout game in Cape Town against one of the giants of European rugby [Leicester].
“We’re looking forward to Cape Town. But we will have to be much better than we were [against Harlequins].”
The Harlequins defeat was likely just an unfortunate slip up in what has been a fantastic season so far for the Stormers, and if they are back to full strength, as expected, this weekend, they will be favourites heading into their match against Leicester.
They also want to pick up a good win over the English Premiership side, not only for their Champions Cup ambitions, but to build up some momentum ahead of a big home derby against the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship next weekend.
