Stormers slip into a real dogfight

The Stormers are treating every game as a knockout from now on as they prepare to take on Irish giants Leinster in their United Rugby Championship (URC) match at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night.

The Cape side’s shock loss at home against Ospreys this past weekend has seen them slip into a proper scrap for places in the top eight, which would see them reach the play-offs. Just three points separate fifth on the log from 11th.

With the Stormers in sixth place, six points off the Bulls in fourth and just one point ahead of the 11th placed Lions, they know another loss will deal a fatal blow to their slim hopes of finishing in the top four, and it could see them out of the top eight after the weekend.

“We are in a situation where we are effectively going into the playoff phase early but in the past two years we didn’t change anything once we reached the final or the play-offs, so we won’t change anything now,” explained Stormers assistant coach Norman Laker.

“For the next couple of weeks the focus will just be on communicating better and being more decisive. “Where the Stormers need to improve the most is their penchant to over-play, which sees them throw the 50-50 ball when under pressure, or go for a cross kick when it isn’t on.

However Laker says they will still be playing as they have been all season, they just need to execute better, which they haven’t done well enough recently.

“We have spoken about the offloads and we know it cost us against Ospreys, but that is what we are. If we take that aspect of our game away then we become the same as any other team,” said Laker.

There were a few lessons we learned, which was good. Not the defeat, but the lessons.”