Stormers have it in their hands

 

The Cape side play four of their remaining six games at home, with their gritty win against the Bulls putting them in prime position to ensure that there will be play-off rugby at Newlands this season.

 

Although they ground out another close win which was effectively an 'eight-pointer' thans to the damage it did to the Bulls, Allister Coetzee's side were not able to cross the tryline and the Stormers coach admitted that despite being in an enviable position his side can still sharpen up and make better use of their opportunities.

 

"It is in our own hands in a way, we have just got to make sure that we tidy things up and become more accurate when the pressure is on. But on the way we want to play there is clarity," he said.

 

After a dominant first half the Stormers were foced to hang on in front of a packed home crowd, with a number of basic errors keeping the Bulls in it right until Duane Vermeulen charged Handre Pollard's drop-goal attempt down in the last minute.

 

Coetzee said that although they were not able to finish any of their chances with poor handling letting them down at crucial stages, he was encouraged by the intent his side showed in putting themselves in those positions and added that he will not discourage positive attacing play.

 

"Some of those offloads if they had stuck would have been unbelievable tries. There will always be errors when there is huge pressure in a game like this.

 

"Defensively both teams did not stand back an inch so it was not like you could get easy momentum to offload and it was forced.

 

"The willingness to play was great to see, I don't want to tell the players to stop making those offloads and things like that, you have got to encourage it if you want to see more tries," he said.

 

Another area of concern was the amount of line-out ball they gave up, but Coetzee dismissed that as a result of playing a good contesting side like the Bulls with Eben Etzebeth learning to call the line-outs and seemed confident that they will improve.

 

"Obviously it is always going to be a set-piece battle against the Bulls so I am not too worried about the line-outs," he said.

 

Coetzee now faces the challenge of rotating his squad to ensure they are all fresh for the knock-out phase of the tournament, with players like Steven Kitshoff overdue some time off, but made it clear they will not be taking their game against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein next week lightly.

 

"At this stage in the season we have to look at players' recovery, it is taxing on players and we have got to make sure we manage them properly to ensure they pitch up in every game with the same physical intensity.

 

"That is the challenge you have as a coaching staff and the big thing for me is to back the squad. 

 

"We will have a look on Monday at what is needed, the Cheetahs are a good side and we won't make changes to break our momentum, we have got to back our squad and make sure that these guys are always fresh," he said.

 

Stormers captain Vermeulen had an influential game after returning from a rest period, and said that he would prefer to play every week if he could.

 

"I think in the long run you might feel it but in a way it is like you don't get momentum. If you play four games and rest two and you get back into the squad and it has evolved.

 

"I just want to play, so if I can be on the pitch every week then I am happy. They have got a plan with that and we will see how it works later on this year," he said.

 

Vermuelen added that he 'got lucky' with his late charge down which ultimately secured the win.

 

"I saw Piet [Van Zyl] talking with Handre [Pollard], and Handre said 'not now, not now', and on the third time I thought 'this is their last chance' and it was just good anticipation and got lucky," he explained.