Stormers need a lot more brains at Eden Park
SUPER RUGBY SPOTLIGHT: The Stormers will have to use more of their brains when they face the Blues on Saturday.
Robbie Fleck’s side only had one game plan against the Hurricanes last weekend and that was to bully their opponents up front, which was not enough in the end as they lost 28-34.
They will face a much sterner challenge up front at Eden Park with the Blues bringing a lot more muscle in at the area of the game.
It means the Stormers will need a lot more than just powerful scrums and driving mauls to try and stamp their authority on the game.
“They Blues] got a big pack of forwards and I think they will enjoy the challenge that we will bring,” said Stormers forwards coach Russell Winter.
“If you compare the two side, I think the Hurricanes have managed to keep a little bit of momentum over the years and the Blues are trying to build that momentum.
“They [Blues] won their last two games and I think they can take a lot of confidence from that. They are going to open up the game a little bit more.”
He added: “I think that their pack poses a different threat in the sense that they are probably a bit more physical and they have a lot more ball carriers in that pack of forwards.”
The Stormers will also need to improve their kicking game. They were poor in that area against the Hurricanes and they cannot afford any misdirected kicks against a dangerous Blues team.
“They got an outstanding attacking back three. We will try and negate that and make sure that we don’t just give them the ball so that they can run at us.
“The kicking plan definitely gets tweaked and it gets looked at every week so that we can go into the game with the right game plan,” Winter added.
Warren Fortune
@FortuneWarren
@rugby365com
