The Stormers take on bogey team Ospreys on Friday, who they have only beaten once, while losing twice and drawing once, in the URC.
The Stormers will need to be fully on guard, despite their stunning start to the United Rugby Championship (URC) season, when they next host bogey team, Ospreys, at the Cape Town Stadium on Friday night.
It was a dream first game for the Stormers, blanking competition defending champs Leinster 35-0 in Cape Town over the past weekend, giving them a brilliant bonus point win and plenty of momentum to take into the rest of the campaign.
But Ospreys are a potential banana peel match for the Stormers, as they have only beaten them once in four attempts in the competition so far, drawing one and losing two, for a negative record against the Welsh side.
The Stormers’ only win against them came back in the first ever URC season, in 2021-22, when they clinched a 29-13 win on home soil, before drawing 16-all away in Wales in season two.
Back at home in season three they slipped up, going down 27-21, and last season, away again, they came up short 37-24.
So, despite Ospreys not being considered one of the top sides in the URC, they have certainly given the Stormers plenty of problems, and showed they are a dangerous prospect and have plenty of attacking flair during their 53-40 opening season loss to the Bulls at Loftus last weekend.
Poor record
“Our record against the Ospreys is pretty poor,” admitted Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson after the Leinster result.
“The last three games read loss, loss, draw. That defeat at home last season (season three) goes down as one of our lowest points. People were not happy with us. We will be up for this game, though.”
The Leinster win was all the more impressive as the Stormers managed to score four tries and show plenty of encouraging attacking play, despite missing their Springbok stars, and other important players, who usually contribute to their exciting style of play.
“We didn’t know where the team was before the Leinster game, and we didn’t expect that result,” admitted Dobson.
“But there wasn’t one moment in the match where I felt we were lucky or there was a flash (of brilliance) or a crazy play by Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu), Manie (Libbok), or Warrick (Gelant). The win was built on intensity and qualities we can back up week after week.”
The Ospreys result takes on extra importance as the Stormers head on a three match tour of Wales and Italy over the following three weeks, heading into the November international break.
They face Scarlets, Zebre and Benetton in those three games, and they will be desperate to head into that tour with plenty of confidence and momentum, especially considering the Stormers are known as a poor traveling side outside of South Africa.
