Improved attack and defence will help Stormers topple Cardiff
· Citizen
The Stormers are targeting an improved performance on both attack and defence to help them topple Cardiff in their United Rugby Championship (URC) quarterfinal clash at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 3:30pm).
It has been an up and down second half of the competition for the Stormers, with them ending the pool stage with an away draw against Ulster and loss to Cardiff in Wales, and they will be looking to bounce back from that with a strong showing in the knockouts.
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Their first assignment is getting past Cardiff, and they are well aware of where they came up short in their last match against them, so have been working on ironing out those problems ahead of the weekend’s game.
“I think we lacked line speed and tackle dominance closer to the breakdown and that made it harder for the guys out wide,” explained Director of Rugby John Dobson about their loss in Wales.
“Cardiff’s recycle speed was incredibly quick and once they get on top of you with those short passes you’re in trouble. It’s definitely a flashpoint for us and one we are acutely aware of.
“Cardiff were very impressive and what they troubled us with was their body height when they carried the ball, on that surface their low posture was very difficult to stop and it is something we need to learn from before we go back to 4G surfaces later in the year.”
After winning their first 10 matches in all competitions this season, which included eight straight wins in the URC, the Stormers suffered their first defeat in January and since then struggled, winning four and losing six of their next 10 games in the URC.
Third on log
That saw them finish third on the log, so if they do get past Cardiff, they will likely have to travel to Ireland to face defending champions Leinster in the semis, unless the Lions pull off a major upset, in which case the Cape side will host the Highveld side in Cape Town.
“We beat the Bulls in Cape Town in early January (to stay unbeaten) but then I would agree we became very inconsistent after that. But we do have a good idea of what needs improving and we are all aligned on that,” admitted Dobson.
“If you look at the stats of our games and the season so far it does tell a story. We are second best in the competition when it comes to entries into the opposition 22, but our conversion rate is way down and not nearly good enough.
“Our set piece is top in all aspects and when it comes to defence we have the least tries conceded. So we obviously need to sort out that conversion rate and capitalise on our field position.
“That our set piece is working so well is a big plus, but the two games against the Sharks which we lost, particularly the one in Cape Town, were odd in the sense that our lineouts collapsed. We went from nearly 100 per cent to 60 per cent.
“We have a lot of consistency around the set piece and we are very good around our fundamentals, both around our set piece and kicking game. However recently we haven’t got enough kick metres and we also need to put the opposition lineout under more pressure.”