Stormers must have ‘no regrets’ against Scarlets

THE Stormers want to be the “best versions” of themselves when they take on the Scarlets in the final round of United Rugby Championship league action in Llanelli on Saturday (6.10pm kickoff).

The fourth-placed Stormers have already secured a spot in the United Rugby Championship playoffs, as well as a place in the Champions Cup – along with the Bulls and Sharks – so the biggest box to tick going into this weekend’s clash is locking down a home quarter-final.

Addressing the media earlier this week, Stormers assistant coach Rito Hlungwani said they want to make a step-up from their performance against Leinster.

In that game, John Dobson’s team came away with a 20-13 win as Leinster made sure to do just enough to secure the losing bonus-point they needed to remain untouchable at the top of the standings.

While the Stormers got the W, it was a game – a bit of an odd one – in which they could certainly have done more, and afterwards, Dobson said that the result was anticlimactic.

“The pressure will never go away. That is the pressure: to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be,” Hlungwani said.

“That’s what we push ourselves to be. We have to be better every single weekend. Yes, it is a bit of a nice milestone that we have qualified ... we are happy with that.

“But we felt we weren’t the best versions of ourselves in the last game. So, that’s something that we are really looking forward to getting right in the coming game.

“We are preparing to come out of that field and have no regrets, to make sure we give everything and execute everything that we trained.

“Regardless of those results going whichever way, we want to control the things we can. It is maybe a bit of a benefit that we’ll play the last game (of the South African sides), but the main focus is making sure that we improve on our last game.

“If we come off of the field feeling like we’ve improved or executed well, we’ll be very happy.”

Hlungwani was confident that they have done proper research and know what to expect from the Welsh side, who are 10th on the log.

“When we started with those first four games on tour, we were not entirely sure what we were getting into. It was a very good experience … we had to make quite a number of adjustments, mainly around the officiating. I felt that once we came back home, there was a good understanding. I just hope that that’s consistent when we go back now,” he said.

“From a preparation point of view, it’s so deep into the season now, we totally understand how Scarlets play – there are a lot of games to watch and prepare from.

“There are lots of lessons that we have learned along the way that have given us confidence going into this game. We feel like we have prepared well, and will be quite comfortable once we get there.”

Stormers tour squad

Hacjivah Dayimani, Neethling Fouche, Deon Fourie, Warrick Gelant, Brok Harris, Steven Kitshoff (capt), JJ Kotze, Manie Libbok, Frans Malherbe, Godlen Masimla, Salmaan Moerat, Ruhan Nel, Marvin Orie, Evan Roos, Seabelo Senatla, Cornel Smit, Marcel Theunissen, Stefan Ungerer, Ernst van Rhyn, Andre-Hugo Venter, Ali Vermaak, Damian Willemse, Nama Xaba, Leolin Zas