Beating Chiefs a must for Stormers

STORMERS captain Siya Kolisi has warned his charges that the hard work of the past few months will count for nothing if they fail to beat the Chiefs in their Super Rugby quarterfinal in Cape Town on Saturday.

The Capetonians beat the Bulls 41-33 in a try fest at Loftus on Saturday in the last match of the season, to confirm their date with the New Zealanders at home.

Speaking after the Loftus win, in which the Stormers impressively scored six to the Bulls’ five tries, Kolisi said they had to make it count if they were to reach the semis.

“Next weekend is going to be a totally different challenge for us and everything we have done so far this season will count for nothing if we don’t turn up against the Chiefs‚” he said.

This match is a repeat of last year’s quarterfinal in which the Chiefs ran out comprehensive 60-21 winners in Cape Town.

Kolisi said that experience would serve as motivation.

The Springbok flanker, who will be leading the team for the first time in a Super Rugby knockout match, said: “We are not going to focus on what happened last year, but it will [motivate] us [to] want to play even more because I don’t want it to happen again.

“We are a totally different team compared with last year and it is good that we are at home.”

The Stormers go into the quarterfinal on the back of three successive wins over the Southern Kings‚ the Jaguares and the Bulls.

Kolisi said the recent results would give confidence.

“It is really good to have managed to put three wins in a row at the business end of the competition – it’s what we have been talking about.”

Stormers coach Robbie Fleck said they had managed to score six tries against the Bulls, but would be up against it in the quarterfinal and there were still areas needing improvement.

“Our set-piece play and structure of the game could get better, and defensively we were a bit loose at times from individual errors‚” Fleck said.

“But if we can get a little bit more clarity and confidence we should be okay.

“Going into the quarterfinal‚ there are minimal possession and turnover opportunities that you can get from your defence.

“Last year’s quarterfinal was a 60-pointer – let’s hope it’s not that.”