Fleck: It’s not a lost cause

Rudolph Jacobs

The Stormers have a mountain to climb today, coming up against eight-time champions and current titleholders the Crusaders in Christchurch.

Starting their tour with a last-minute 34-27 loss to the Waratahs in Sydney last weekend, not many people will give them a fighting chance especially after the Crusaders began with a 45-23 win over the Chiefs.

But coach Robbie Fleck (above) said spirits in the camp are very good and while they are aware what they are up against, they don’t see the match as a lost cause.

“It is a good challenge for our boys,” he said. “We said at the beginning of the year that we are looking to challenge the top teams in the competition consistently, whether that is at home or away.

Crusaders game-changers like fullback David Havili, wing Seta Tamanivalu, centres Jack Goodhue and Ryan Crotty and left wing George Bridge could however give Fleck plenty of food for thought.

But it is up front where the Crusaders start cooking through the likes of All Black locks Sam Whitelock and Scott Barrett and openside flank Peter Samu.

There is no doubt the Stormers have the firepower up front to take the challenge to the home team through lock Pieter-Steph du Toit, prop Wilco Louw and No 8 Nizaam Carr, but it’s when play became unstructured that the Stormers looked at sixes and sevens last weekend.