AUDIO: 'It is what we deserve'
Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson readily accepts the ‘underdog’ tag attached to his team, as they head to a venue they have never won at before.
The inaugural winners, the Stormers, will play a knock-out match away from home for the first time since the inception of the United Rugby Championship.
Scottish powerhouse Glasgow Warriors is their hosts in a quarterfinal face-off at the Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday.
“It is what we deserve,” Dobson told @rugby365com, when asked about the draw that saw his team hit the play-off road for the first time.
“As we said before, it might not be too bad for the growth [of the team] that we play away.
“If you want to do well in the URC and Europe, you have to win more games on the road than we have,” he said of their four-match winless tour at the start of the season.
He also touched on his team’s winless record in the athletics and Rugby Union stadium with a capacity of 5,000 in Scotstoun, an area in the West End of Glasgow.
“Both have been real contests,” Dobson said of the 17-24 (in January last year) and 9-20 (November last year) losses in the heart of the Scottish winter.
Even though they are without two of their World Cup-winning Springboks – Damian Willemse and Deon Fourie – they are “well prepared” for a game that has the possibility of ‘light showers’ and a moderate breeze.
The temperature at kick-off will be a moderate 11°C.
“This team has shown the last three weeks just how resilient it can be,” he told @rugby365com.
“We are battle-hardened and keen to go on the road – just like [defending champions] Munster did last year.
“We are excited by this trip.”
He admitted that a winless tour at the start of the season had put them on the back foot.
However, they are now in the play-offs and believe they have a real chance.
(LISTEN as Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson speaks about his team’s winless record at Scotstoun Stadium and gives his quarterfinal predictions….)
“We paid the price for our terrible performance against Ospreys and that is why we are on the road,” Dobson said.
His predictions on the other quarterfinals have Munster beating Ospreys, the Bulls are likely to be too tough for Benetton at Loftus Versfeld and Leinster are set to bring their big guns back to beat Ulster.
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