The maul the merrier
Reds captain James Horwill admitted that his side have spent a fair amount of time this week preparing to counter the Stormers' driving maul.
The Queensland side will be looking to bounce back from their defeat to the Cheetahs last week against a wounded Stormers side missing the lanky Andries Bekker, but Horwill does not expect the towering lock's absence to stop the home side from mauling as often as possible.
"They maul a lot, there is no doubt, you just have to look at the stats to see that. It is a very strong weapon for them so we have certainly focused on it," he told this website.
Horwill was not satisfied with the way his team dealt with the Cheetahs' maul last week, and has placed a heavy focus on this area ahead of the inevitable onslaught at Newlands on Saturday.
"Against the Cheetahs we certainly did not do so well a couple of times against their maul so it is something that we need to improve and we have spent a bit of time in training on that," he said.
With Bekker out of action Horwill will be up against Eben Etzebeth who is making his first start in the No.5 jersey, with the inexperienced Gerbrandt Grobler taking over at No.4.
Horwill said that Etzebeth's shift across did not come as a major surprise, as given his international experience he is more suited to the high-pressure role of co-ordinating the line-outs.
"They have gone with the experienced guy [Etzebeth] in there, and for a guy making his first start [Grobler] it is a big challenge to call the line-outs, so they have gone with a guy that has obviously played for the Springboks and has played in the team more than he has so he is more experienced with their set-ups and calling structure," he explained.
Although the Stormers have been hit hard by injury, Horwill is still expecting a fierce test at Newlands given the depth in talent in the region.
"There are a few guys there that we don't know a lot about, but there are also some guys that we do know a fair bit about. We just need to expect the unexpected, there is a lot of quality guys that have been playing Vodacom Cup and things like that so it is not like they are short of a gallop for rugby," he said.
For the Reds the focus will be on improving their accuracy in order to impose themselves on the opposition more consistently, which is where Horwill feels they let themselves down in Bloemfontein last week.
"Execution has been a big thing for us, we had plenty of possession and plenty of time in good field position and I guess we let teams off the hook by silly mistakes and being put under pressure. We have spoken about the fact that we need to make the most of our opportunities – especially over here against the Stormers who have got a very good defence," he said.
By Michael de Vries
