Stormers hope to rediscover form for final push
SUPER RUGBY SPOTLIGHT: The Stormers are looking to rediscover the form they had against the Crusaders and Highlanders heading into their final two games of the season.
After a 19-19 draw with the Crusaders and a 34-22 victory over the Highlanders, the Stormers were brought back down to earth with a 22-41 loss to the Lions in Johannesburg last weekend.
The Stormers, who are at the bottom of the South African Conference with 30 points, still have a good chance of making the play-offs if the beat the Sunwolves and the Sharks (both at Newlands) and head coach Robbie Fleck wants his players to rediscover that fighting spirit they showed against the Kiwi sides.
“If we win both games, we got a great chance of qualifying – even up to sixth position is possible,” Fleck told reporters in Cape Town ahead of their Round 17 meeting with the Sunwolves.
“It [qualification] also depends on other results, but it is really in our own hands and first and foremost it’s about this weekend.
“We want to play well like we did against the Crusaders and the Highlanders and find that form again and hopefully without any disruptions [injuries].”
Fleck added: “If we get eight points [to get to 38 points] from the next two we got a good chance of qualifying.
“If we get to 39 or 40 points it will be even better.”
The Stormers have been hit hard by injuries over the last few weeks, but Fleck is confident that his youngsters will be able to produce the good over the next two weeks.
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“The injury situation is obviously fairly large at the moment for us. It is something that we had to deal with over the last two to three weeks.
“Ideally you want to get to this part of the competition with a lot of continuity and I think that is what we were asking for after the Crusaders game, but it did not go our way and we had to juggle a bit and bring in some new faces.
“It is a massive opportunity for them [youngsters] to be part of something special going forward and they got an opportunity to play well this weekend against the Sunwolves and work towards a play-off,” said Fleck.
