Stormers need to be up-tempo... and get physical

DESPITE the Stormers’ disappointing results on tour, loose forward Nizaam Carr believes that his team has made good progress in terms of closing the gap between them and the New Zealand Super Rugby sides.

The Stormers suffered harsh defeats to the Crusaders, the Highlanders and the Hurricanes during their three-match tour to New Zealand after producing satisfying results in South Africa, but Carr believes that the Stormers have done well to get closer to the Kiwis.

“I think the gap was a bit big last year. But I think we’re making good progress, we’re training smarter. No one expected us to beat the Chiefs at Newlands, but we showed that we can play against them,” Carr said.

Carr also feels that the Stormers just need to play at the tempo they played at during their first six games to return to winning ways again, while he added that cutting down on mistakes and putting in good preparation are other key factors to them getting the results.

“I think it’s all in your preparation. And if you look at the tempo we played at during the first six games… we’ll put any team to bed. So if we can play with that same tempo and that same physicality… because if you make one error the New Zealand teams are going to score. If we can just sharpen up on that I think we’ll be good.”

“There were a number of times when we had them (the Hurricanes) under the pump. I think when we came out in the second half we spent about 15 minutes on the tryline but we didn’t capitalise. I think if we scored there the result could have gone a totally different way.”

“We obviously didn’t do too well on tour, but we feel that we did put them under pressure at times. We spoke to the Hurricanes after the game and they said that they didn’t know what plans to use against us, as in their plans weren’t working, so I think we’re on the right track. We just need to prepare well and plan well and we’ll see the results on the weekend,” Carr said.

There were times on tour that the Stormers had promising try-scoring opportunities, but they failed to finish as they turned over possession in the opposition 22 a number of times. And Carr said that the Cape side was putting in the hard work during training, even though the results didn’t always justify that statement.

“We let the pressure off them and they defended well under their posts. And that’s how our season’s been going. We’re not really getting the rewards. Off the field, in our preparation, we’re doing a lot of work. The coaches as well. But at times luck doesn’t go our way, especially against the New Zealand teams. The bounce of the ball would go their way and they’d score.”

Regardless of how the tour went, Robbie Fleck’s team has a golden opportunity to get back on track when they host Tana Umaga’s Blues on Friday, and Carr was positive that his side could “make the step up” against New Zealand’s bottonof-the-log team.

“I don’t want to make it too much about them (the Blues), it’s about us and what we must do and what we must get right. It’s a pity results didn’t go our way, but I think the guys are ready to make that step up,” he said.