Stormers captain Deon Fourie has told his teammates to become a championship team and a first win over Ulster in Belfast would go a long way to instilling that belief, when the teams meet in their United Rugby Championship (URC) match-up at the Affidea Stadium on Friday night (kick-off 8:45pm).
The Stormers have enjoyed a solid URC campaign so far and sit top of the log on 56 points having won 12 and lost four games, with them one point ahead of Glasgow Warriors and three ahead of the Lions and Leinster.
They thus can’t afford to slip up against eighth placed Ulster, and after a strong performance against Glasgow in their last match, they need to back that up, especially after their slip ups against Connacht and the Sharks who are both in the bottom half of the table.
“I told the guys we have to be a championship team. You can’t have a good game one week and the next weekend go off plan and not play well,” explained Fourie.
“So for us to progress and be in the running to win this trophy again we have to become more consistent. Everyone is happy. The last game against Glasgow was a good game. I think the challenge for us is to build on that performance.
“Especially coming at the business end of the tournament. You want to progress and get better from game to game and that is the focus for the team at the moment.”
Strong team
The Stormers have named a strong team for the game, with a few injury and rotational changes from the side that thumped Glasgow, including Fourie captaining the team from flank, and covering hooker with loose forwards Paul de Villiers, Hacjivah Dayimani and Keke Morabe on the bench.
Usual captain Ruhan Nel is out with a calf strain, but Director of Rugby John Dobson believes he will be back for the next against Cardiff, with Dan du Plessis moving to outside centre, Damian Willemse inside and Warrick Gelant comes in at fullback.
Dobson admitted that having a number of utility players in the squad, who can cover positions across the pack helped in selecting the team.
“It is useful. You never really want to leave Paul or Deon out. With Paul coming in it allows Deon to cover hooker later in the game,” explained Dobson.
“The other element was we didn’t want to have Paul and Deon at flank together as it would put our lineout under pressure. So having Deon cover hooker gives our pack a lot more options, especially with us able to change up the locks and loose forwards.”
Other notable changes see Imad Khan coming in at scrumhalf for the injured Cobus Reinach, Sazi Sandi gets a run at tighthead prop, and Evan Roos equals former Springbok great Duane Vermeulen’s 73 cap record at eighthman for the Stormers.
