The Stormers want to make it three from three and prove they have turned their overseas form around with a win over Benetton on Saturday.
The Stormers are looking to make it a perfect start to the United Rugby Championship (URC) season by picking up a fifth straight win, over Benetton in Treviso on Saturday (kick-off 6:30pm), and head into the international break at the top of the log.
A first away win over their Italian opponents will also go a long way towards banishing the notion that the Stormers are a dreadful travelling team, which they have built up in the URC over the past few seasons.
The Stormers have a superb home record, and also an impressive away record in South Africa, but when they have travelled overseas they have come out on the losing side more often than not.
But they are now in line to secure a first three-win overseas tour in the URC, if they can continue their strong early form and knock over Benetton on their home patch for the first time.
Despite sitting top of the log, with four wins, including two away over Scarlets and Zebre, Stormers assistant coach Rito Hlungwani admitted in the week that the Benetton result was an important one for the team to prove that they are making a positive step in the right direction on the road.
Big assessment
“I think the big assessment of whether we are cracking the away code can only be made after this game, after the completion of the three games on tour,” explained Hlungwani.
“We have beaten Scarlets and Zebre overseas before, whereas we have never beaten Benetton on their home ground. This is the moment of truth.
“It is after this that we will look at the adjustments in our travel and the other small changes we have made and decide whether it is working or not. Then we will plan for the next one, which is Munster away (at the end of November).”
Although the Stormers have yet to be seriously tested in the URC so far this season, with all four of their wins by comfortable margins, they have still not been at their best and have room for improvement, which they hope to show on Saturday.
“We will be throwing everything we can at Benetton. It will be nice to finish with another win. It is extremely important to us. Before we left Cape Town we set certain goals, and we need to make good on those goals,” said Hlungwani.
“We are happy with the progress and what we are doing, we just need to step it up a bit. We need to break the opponent more, there is room for us to be more ruthless.”
After this weekend’s game the URC breaks for a month for the November internationals, with the Stormers next in action away against Munster at the end of next month.
