Fleck marvels at Kiwis’ tempo

THE KEY FOR US IS TO MATCH THAT INTENSITY Stormers mentor believes his players have learnt a lot.

The Stormers have faced the Super Rugby hardship they endured against the Crusaders head on and will be better for it against the Highlanders this Friday, believes coach Robbie Fleck.

It was mainly in the first half of their 57-24 hammering where they found it tough to deal with the quick linespeed of the Crusaders which often bordered on the offside line.

“We had a good discussion as a group and we will take the lessons from the Crusaders game and move on,” said Fleck.

“Obviously we need to work on a few things from the loss on the weekend.”

When the Stormers trailed 36-3 at the break, they tweaked a few things resulting in the second half ending 21-21.

“The key learning from our side is that we haven’t faced linespeed like the Crusaders presented, where they really got off the line and put us under immense pressure,” Fleck said.

Fleck said there are a lot of “young kids” in his squad who have never toured New Zealand and it provides an opportunity to play against some of the best players in the world in one of the toughest environments.

“The Highlanders are a team that like to move the ball around and play an attacking sort of game.

“They have got a lot of All Blacks so they are a very dangerous side, especially when they are playing in Dunedin.

“We are going to keep pushing from our side, we are trying to play with a high intensity,” he added.

But their work in the tight phases also need addressing with Kiwi teams putting a big emphasis on domination at the breakdown and offloading in contact areas.

“You need to be strong setpiece-wise playing over here,” said Fleck from Dunedin.

“But the key for us is to match that intensity and that tempo the Kiwi sides play at.”