Stormers have 'plans' for Brumbies
The Stormers are well aware that their defective line-out will be targeted by the Brumbies when the two teams meet in a Super Rugby crunch match at Newlands on Saturday.
Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham has already made know his team's eagerness to exploit what has become a weakness for the Cape Town-based franchise.
Since their return from their Australasian tour, the Stormers have been unable to get their famed rolling maul going – because their line-outs have become decidedly wobbly.
It was a major contributing factor in their 17-25 loss to the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein last week, a result that saw them toppled from first place in the South African conference.
The Cheetahs managed to win all eight their own line-outs, while also pinching five from the Stormers – leaving the Cape Town team with just three wins in this set piece, a paltry 37 percent success rate.
It wasn't much better the week before, a fortuitous 15-13 win over the Bulls at Newlands. The Stormers lost five line-outs on their own throw, with a success rate of just 64 percent.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee admitted there are still "a few areas" of concern, but said they won't get negative about it.
"Our scrumming is right up there and all of a sudden the line-out is not," Coetzee told a media briefing at the team's training base in Bellville, Cape Town.
"We had a long chat about it and made sure players take ownership," the coach said, adding: "We look at ways how to do [correct] it.
"We know we are facing a very good contesting side [in the Brumbies] this week, and going forward.
"We simply just have to win our ball. We are looking at a few plans that hopefully can help to ensure we get possession."
Describing the Brumbies as a "very structured" side, the Stormers coach said there won't be any free gifts in terms of possession.
"They are well-coached and well-organised," he said, adding: "It is not just their structured play, but also their kicking game.
"They have a great maul, a good line-out, good line-out defence and they are also a very physical team.
"We have to be really up for this one. The challenge of this competition is to get the players up there every week."
Coetzee said his team is still in a strong position in the race to the play-offs, despite conceding their place as conference leaders to the Bulls.
"We have a big game this weekend, then we have a break and after the break we have three of our four games at home.
"We are still in a position to do well."
Like all the home-based South African franchises – the touring Sharks being the exception – this is a challenging week for the Stormers, with the Springboks in a pre-World Cup training camp in Johannesburg.
The Stormers' Boks will only return to training on Thursday. Add in a few injuries and their build-up will be severely disrupted.
"Thirteen of our current players, who will be involved this weekend, are not available [for training], so it is a challenge," the coach said.
"We are all trying to make it work, because that is what we agreed on at the beginning of the year.
"The challenge for me as that these guys would have been thinking about rugby for more than seven [consecutive] days, which is not normal.
"Normally they have a day off in their programme. They will be training on what is normally their day off [Wednesday], even though it is not a tough session – so that is a challenge to us."
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