Do or die for De Villiers
Every game is vital going into the second half of the season and Stormers captain Jean De Villiers is completely aware of his team's situation.
The Stormers play their second game of a four-week tour when they clash with the Blues in Albany on Friday and if they were to win it would mean half of the job on tour is done.
Beating the Blues is something that has been a lot more difficult to do in 2013 than it was in 2012 and the Stormers know that they pose a very real threat to their play-off hopes.
"This week it will be a tough battle against quality opposition and they have some youngsters in their backline that have done really well and they have more experienced guys like Piri Weepu and Rene Ranger," De Villiers said from the team's base in Auckland.
"We are taking it one game at a time which makes every game an important game starting with this one against the Blues and if we slip up in the next couple of weeks we will find it very tough," De Villiers added.
The challenge of taking on the Blues in their own back yard is a daunting task for any team but the Stormers know what to expect from the side from Auckland.
"They have not conceded a lot of tries and from an attacking point of view they are lethal.
"Our one-on-one tackles are going to have to be good because they have got some good steppers in their side.
"They have got a lot to play for and they have a legendary coach in John Kirwan and obviously he has done really well there," De Villiers added.
Although the Stormers are under pressure to gain favourable results from their remaining games this season there have been some strange results that are preventing sides from breaking away on the log.
"It seems like the log is becoming more jammed in the middle and there are some funny results every weekend. Don't be surprised if the overall points are little lower this year," the Stormers captain said.
The Blues pose a serious test for the Stormers defence with the likes of Charles Piutau, Rene Ranger and Frank Halai dangerous on the counter.
The Blues have added another string to their bow as they have been defending incredibly well this season as opposed to in the past when they were renowned for scoring often but conceding just as much.
"They have not conceded a lot of tries and from an attacking point of view they are lethal.
"Usually when you have a team that scores a lot of tries it means they leak a lot of tries too but not this team, they can cut you to shreds but also defensively they are very sound," De Villiers added.
