Stormers target that home semi
DOBSON: WELL AWARE OF DANGER THAT SCARLETS POSE
The Stormers are absolutely fired-up and ready for their most important game of the season so far as they take on Scarlets in their United Rugby Championship clash in Llanelli this evening (kick-off 6.10pm).
It is the final match of the pool stage for the Stormers and one they have to win if they want to host a quarterfinal in Cape Town.
“We have to win, no matter what happens with other results. We have to put everything into this game. We have to win it to secure a home quarterfinal and we have to win it with five points if we want to stand a chance of a home semi,” explained Stormers coach John Dobson.
“From our side we are also extremely proud of the record we have. We have lost the least games of anyone in the competition in our first year, which is quite a nice stat and it’s up to us to keep that record intact.”
It is a massive match for Scarlets as well, as they are chasing qualification for next season’s European Rugby Champions Cup, and need to win to have a chance of qualifying ahead of Ospreys, who are currently above them in the race for pool honours.
Both teams thus have plenty on the line and will be going all out to claim what would be an important win in both of their seasons.
Scarlets know nothing less than a good win over the Stormers today will give them any chance of making it into Europe next season, so they will be going all out to try and get a positive result against one of the competition’s in-form teams.
“They are playing for their Heineken Cup qualification which will make them dangerous. Even if that wasn’t the case, and they had nothing to lose, they are one of the competition’s top try- scoring teams with 63 tries,” Dobson pointed out.
“They’re a team that likes to move the ball around and I expect if they had nothing to lose they would potentially be even more risk-free. So I think either way they’re going to be a pretty dangerous opponent.”