Stormers preparing for battle
Stormers forwards coach Matthew Proudfoot believes that it will be a case of blunt warfare when his team meet the Sharks in the their coastal derby in Durban this weekend.
There was little between the teams when they clashed in a low-scoring thrash which the home side edged out at Newlands, and there appears little to seperate them still as both have got some good winning momentum at the moment.
Proudfoot believes that the major focus for his side is getting ready for the intensity of the encounter as he is confident that the Sharks will not resort to the kicking styles employed against his side by the Cheetahs and the Waratahs.
He told this website: "Derbies are won on passion, physicality and one or two incidents in a game. It is about belief in what you do irrespective of what your opponent does you stick to what you do that is the biggest thing about a derby.
"He has got his guns and he is going to throw them at us, we have got our guns and we are going to throw them at at him, but the one that loses belief in a derby is the one that loses the game," added Proudfoot.
The Stormers pride themselves on their defensive abilities and he knows exactly what to expect from the Sharks.
Proudfoot explained: "They really are a momentum based side, they score in two ways ,from the set phase when they use those big ball carriers to get across the advantage line – Bismarck, Deysel, Alberts and Marcell Coetzee. When those guys start getting over the advantage line then they are very dangerous.
"Then from destructured play when they turn you over at a breakdown or force a knock-on through that hard press of theirs. that is when they are even more dangerous.
"So they are a difficult side to play against because they have got immense physicality. So we know up front it is going to be a tremendous battle, that Springbok front row is scrummaging well," he added.
The Stormers assistant coach said that while the Waratahs had sought to pressurise the Stormers in trying conditions the Sharks are more likely to take the game to them as that is a strength of theirs.
He said: You normally score through pressure and if you are not sitting on the right side of the field you are not going to build pressure against an international team, so I think they [Waratahs] were clever in what they did but I think we handled the strategy of contestable kicks. "
"I think the Sharks are confident in their abilities, they might have a look early on in the game to maybe stick us in our territory but I think what the Sharks have been doing well is that they have been dominating that gainline," added Proudfoot.
The flipside of that is that there will be more opportunities for the Stormers, and with conditions likely to be drier in Durban this time around the Stormers are alert to the possibility of capitilising on the Sharks mistake and scoring some welcome tries.
"If we could force some territory or force a couple of mistakes, we could create some opportunities. It is something we worked on in oir defensive session, tries are scored from set-phase attack or what everbody terms launch, kick returns or turnovers.
"That is what we have worked on – how to create turnovers and then attack," Proudfoot explained.
By Michael de Vries
