The Stormers’ Paul de Villiers is set to play a more prominent role for the side in the rest of the URC season, especially at the breakdown, in the absence of the injured Deon Fourie.
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The Stormers must tighten up a few areas of their gameplay if they want to beat Benetton in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash on Saturday in Cape Town as they continue pushing for a favourable knockout spot.
Despite beating Connacht, certain parts of their game did not function well, and the Italians will look to exploit it even further when the duel kicks off (6.15pm) in the DHL Stadium.
Independent Newspapers looks at five key areas the Cape side would’ve worked on ahead of this watershed duel.
Defence
It has long been a pillar of the Stormers’ gameplan, but teams have found it too easy to circumvent their rush defence. Director of rugby John Dobson could not put his finger on the problem and if it’s a system or player error.
What he does know is that they will have to be better, especially out wide, to keep the dangerous attack of Benetton in check. Their tackle fight and double hits have been impressive in the past and they must get that right as well.
Leaving space for the Italians to attack will get them into trouble come Saturday.
Rucking
Another strong suit of the Capetonians that hasn’t been functioning that well in this season’s tournament is their rucks. They’ve often let their opponents spoil their possession when on the attack and they haven’t been counter-rucking as well as before.
For their attack to run teams off their feet, they’ll need quality and clean possession from the base of the rucks. Benetton will target them there and whoever the scrumhalf is, must be protected.
Players like Evan Roos, captain Salmaan Moerat, and fetcher Paul de Villiers must be more prominent at the breakdown.
Exit strategy
This was especially a big concern in the match against Connacht. Yes, we all know the Stormers can run the ball from virtually anywhere on the pitch to go and score, but when you receive a kick-off, your exit must be spotless.
You can’t run into traffic and then try and take the blindside on with the winger close to the touchline. Teams have figured it out and Connacht was able to turn over possession a couple of times after kicking off.
The Cape side must come up with a better plan to get the ball out of their half this weekend when they receive it after scoring points.
Keeping their tempo going
It almost looks at times as if the Stormers think things will come a bit easier to the after scoring some quickfire tries. After the hattrick of Feinberg-Mngomezulu, they should’ve kicked on and buried Connacht.
Even when speedster Suleiman Hartzenberg scored in the first 10 minutes of the second half it looked as if the home side would bury their opponents, but it never happened.
They were fortunate to escape due to that obstruction, but they should avoid a repeat of the Ulster game this season, where they fail to capitalise on healthy starts to close out games.
Scrums
Although they had the upper hand in the scrums in their last game, it is an aspect they would want to continuously improve as they reach the business end of the season. Despite some key players missing, they stood strong.
That one lost scrum against Connacht in front of the try line was a potential missed opportunity for some valuable points and they’d want to perfect those chances when they face a strong Benetton scrum.
It will be a tough test for the likes of Sazi Sandi, but it will indicate if he is ready for knockout rugby should he be needed later in the season.
