Stormers still need to get better, says Snyman
STORMERS assistant coach Dawie Snyman says they still have some way to go despite their superb performance against the Lions on Saturday.
The Cape side produced their most complete performance since domestic rugby returned to thrash the Lions 44-12 at Cape Town Stadium.
The Stormers got right into it and led 24-0 at halftime, while the Lions only managed to get some points on the scoreboard around the 70th minute.
Their performance had it all - top interplay between backs and forwards, solid defence and, something which is especially important for the Stormers given their struggles in that position, a fantastic performance by young flyhalf Abner van Reenen. There is still room for improvement before the Rainbow Cup kicks off, though, Snyman explained.
"There’s still a fair bit to go. If you look at the Sharks performance against the Bulls, you realise that the Bulls are still a quality side. I think all four teams will be
very competitive come the Rainbow Cup,” Snyman said.
"What we are happy with are the areas we want to work on, they have improved. There have been some good signs, but we are still a work in progress and we still need to get better."
Van Reenen added some good touches on attack, and when it came to his kicking performance, it was just as impressive. On Van Reenen’s performance in his first starting berth, Snyman said: “We’ll look closely at the games, but we have a guy like Tim Swiel who is injured. However, we’ll assess and see where we are and which player is needed for a specific game and select accordingly.”
Snyman, who was the head coach for the Lions game, was also happy with what the back three of Damian Willemse, Seabelo Senatla and Sergeal Petersen did on the day, causing all kinds of problems for the opposition’s defence.
"The back three’s performance was good and we started well in the way we wanted to play. The guys inside of them gave them space to play, but I’m really happy for Seabelo. He’s had a few injuries, but to come back from a big injury like he had, that’s promising. We know what Sergeal can do, but there are guys like Leolin Zas and Edwill van der Merwe who performed well," Snyman said.
"It’s a good sign of depth where we can rotate our squad and the next guy coming in can do the job as well as the next one. The Rainbow Cup is closer to the (British & Irish) Lions series, so the guys will play quite hard for the available spots."