Lions, Stormers eager to cement play-off places

After a superb past weekend in the United Rugby Championship (URC), the Stormers and Lions will be eager to secure their place in competitions top eight when they face Ulster and Ospreys respectively on Saturday.

Ahead of last weekend both teams were outside the top eight, with the Stormers ninth and Lions 11th, but after thumping wins over Edinburgh, 43-21, and Connacht, 38-14, respectively, they have risen up to fifth and eighth on the log.

They will now look to consolidate their place in the top half of the table with the Stormers hosting the Irish giants in Cape Town, while the Lions will have to brave some tricky conditions against the Welsh team in Swansea.

For the Stormers they know they still have plenty to work on despite their seven try to three win over Edinburgh, as they left a number of opportunities out on the park.

They also know the threat that Ulster will bring at the breakdown which could impact their gameplan of trying to get quick ball out to their exciting backline.

“There is always room for improvement. But the big positive (against Edinburgh) was that we showed a lot of intent. We passed regularly and made a lot of offloads. So the body language of the guys was good and they were keen to try things,” said Stormers assistant coach Labeeb Levy (above).

“With Ulster they put your breakdown under pressure. One of the good things we had over the weekend was we had quick ball which allowed us to play. So part of their strength will be to put our breakdown under pressure and we are going to have to be very accurate there

“But we just have to cover all our bases. In the lineouts, maul defence and scrum. But I think the breakdown is going to be key for us to secure good ball for our runners coming onto the ball.”

On the Lions front they know that a win over Ospreys is vitally important for their playoff aspirations with them set for a tough URC run-in.

They play the rest of their URC games after this weekend in South Africa, but have to take on Irish giants Leinster and Munster and Scottish giants Glasgow Warriors at Ellis Park, while they end their pool campaign against the Stormers in Cape Town.

“I’m excited. It’s another chance to climb up the points table. We said at the start we want to finish in the top four and get a home playoff. We’ll take it as it comes but that remains our goal,” said Lions winger Edwill van der Merwe ahead of the game.