Stormers shaping up better

 

Coetzee's side have missed out on the knockout stage of Super Rugby for the last two seasons, but this year they are the only South African team with a chance of winning the competition having topped their conference.

 

They ended their regular season with a 12-34 defeat to the Sharks in Durban, with Coetzee picking a second-string side to ensure that his frontline players are refreshed for their clash with the Brumbies at Newlands next week, and he has no regrets about the decision at all.

 

"I don't think it will have any influence on our continuity and momentum, I think this is a great opportunity to refocus and come back better next week," he said.

 

The Stormers coach revealed that the first-choice side started preparing for what is effectively a quarterfinal last week, with a focus on negating the Brumbies' driving maul.

 

"They had quite a lot of work because we weren't sure if it was going to be the Brumbies or Chiefs, and we focused a lot on things we knew we should fix.

 

"There was work that needed to be done on our line-outs and line-out defence.

 

"They opposed this team and there was a collective team effort at training as well," he explained.

 

Coetzee was especially pleased with the way his team's campaign has been managed, which has left him with a fully-fit squad to select from for the play-offs.

 

He believes that this will make the difference in comparison to previous campaigns when they made the play-offs with a team decimated by injury.

 

"Holistically we have met all our objectives and the plan was always to make sure we get a home play-off.

 

"What we should have done we have done, we will be selecting our best possible side, not a hooker playing at eight which happened the last couple of years," he said.

 

While it was a disappointing performance against the Sharks, Coetzee said it was understandable given the number of changes and added that he has no regrets about his decision.

 

"There were a lot of unforced errors but I understand that a team put together in a week woud have no synergy or cohesion.

 

"I would have stuck to my plan if I had the chance to do that again, the result of this match would have had no influence whatsoever," he added.