The Stormers are gunning for a perfect overseas tour for the first time, with three wins out of three, starting against Scarlets.
Stormers captain Ruhan Nel and Director of Rugby John Dobson both want the team to produce their most successful United Rugby Championship (URC) tour, and go three from three, starting with a win over Scarlets in Llanelli on Friday night (kick-off 8:45pm).
It has been a strong start to the season for the Cape side, with a thumping bonus point win over defending champions, Leinster, followed up by a good victory against their bogey team, Ospreys, and they now want to take that form on tour with them.
The Stormers have not been a good touring team in the URC over the years, but want to turn that around this season, and Nel believes that a strong foundation and getting the basics right, over their usual thrilling unstructured play, will be key in doing that.
“We are planning to be nice and physical (against Scarlets). I think typical Stormers rugby, we would love to throw the ball around, it’s what the people in the Western Cape want to see. But we are looking to make this the most successful Stormers tour yet,” admitted Nel.
“We want to go three from three, and to make that happen we have to have certain things in place. If the set piece, lineout and scrums are functioning properly, and if our breakdowns are quick, opportunities automatically come from that.
“If we are a little bit sloppy in those things, we can’t get into our natural flow. So a big focus is on us carrying the ball into contact, the breakdown and kick return being solid for us, and through that we will get opportunities to open them up.”
Perfect tour
Dobson backed up his skipper and believes that his team has what it takes to have a perfect tour, with a win in Wales against Scarlets, followed by victories over Zebre and Benetton in Italy, and explained that it was important in their quest to secure a home playoff.
I don’t want to sound overconfident. But this is a great chance for us to get three wins on tour. Scarlets have taken us down deep in both the games we have played here, including one earlier this year,” said Dobson.
“I just know from past experience, we have had poor starts, in URC one and four, and reasonable starts in two and three. But the difference it makes to your camp (when you start well), from the style of rugby, to communication, to selection policy and bravery (is immense).
“To not feel as if you have a knife against your throat (is important). So we want to have as good a start as possible. Like Ruhan said, we want to try and make this the most successful Stormers tour. And that makes the Scarlets game very important.
“In a league like this, which is a marathon, every game is important, because you have to be hosting playoffs. We have learnt that (losing away in the quarterfinals in the past two seasons). To get that home playoff, you have to win away games, and it is really important for us to make a statement.”
