Wiser for the experience of having played abroad, the Stormers are confident of securing a home quarter-final in Saturday’s crucial Vodacom United Rugby Championship match against Scarlets in Llanelli. DYLAN JACK reports.
That was the signal sent out by forwards coach Rito Hlungwani, who spoke to media before the squad departed for Wales on Monday.
The Stormers have already secured a place in the URC playoffs, as well as a spot in Europe next season, but need to beat Scarlets to finish in the top four and host a quarter-final in June.
A benefit for the Stormers is they will be the last of the South African teams to play on the weekend, which means they will know exactly what’s required before kick-off at 6.10pm on Saturday.
“We have been preparing to perform as well as we can. We are preparing to go out on that field and have no regrets, make sure that we give everything and try to execute,” Hlungwani said. “Regardless of whether those results go our way, we want to control the things that we can.
“It is maybe a benefit that we are playing after those two games. The main focus for us is that we improve from our last game. If we come off the field feeling like we have improved or executed well, we will be very happy, regardless of what the team’s performance does.”
By all counts, the Stormers have already outperformed expectations, especially given where both the team and the Western Province Rugby Union were at the end of last year.
READ: Jantjies-less Stormers depart for key URC match in Wales
On the other hand, excellent performances at home have led to increased expectations from fans, something which was felt with the disappointment in the quality of performance against first-placed Leinster, despite that victory securing a place in Europe and the playoffs.
“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.”
The Stormers record in the northern hemisphere includes losing to Munster, Benetton and Connacht, while holding Edinburgh to a draw and beating the lowly Dragons.
Hlungwani said the players have learned from these experiences earlier in the season and are confident of getting a positive result when they tackle the Scarlets.
“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.
“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.”
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