VIDEO: It is 'game on' for travelling Stormers
After overcoming a rivalrous and perfervid Lions team in what was the match of the weekend, the Stormers will now travel for a play-off match for the first time since the inception of the United Rugby Championship.
The Stormers, later this week, board a flight to Scotland for a quarterfinal face-off with Glasgow Warriors at the Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday.
It will be a new experience for the Cape Town-based franchise, who played all six of their previous play-off matches – quarterfinals, semifinals and Finals for two years consecutively – at home.
They will also be without two of their World Cup-winning Springboks – the injured Damian Willemse (finger surgery) and Deon Fourie (knee injury).
The foul-play red card (head contact) against the Lions this past Saturday will also rule Angelo Davids out of the trip.
However, the “bucket loads” of character his team showed is encouraging the coach ahead of a challenging trip abroad.
“We needed a good win in a tough South African derby,” he told @rugby365com, adding that they have no additional injuries from the weekend’s Round 18 encounter.
Despite the travel challenges, Dobson is confident they will give a good account of themselves with a realistic chance of causing an upset against the fourth-ranked Warriors.
He said the equity partner, Red Disa, would obviously have enjoyed a home play-off, but for the team’s growth going on the road and building a winning culture away from Cape Town is also important.
(WATCH as Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson talks about their first URC away play-off game since the inception of the tournament….)
“We have gone from nought from four [no wins] on a tour, to a good performance with our B-Team in Leicester, [then] win in Paris [24-20 Champions Cup victory over Stade Francais] and then the two [URC wins] on the tour,” he said of beating the Dragons in Newport and Connacht in Galway.
“I would love it – for the people of Cape Town, the money and the chances of winning – to play at home.
“It is not a bad thing for our growth to win away.
“I am excited to go to Scotstoun in May, as opposed to going there in November without our Springboks.
“We are up for this,” he told @rugby365com, adding: “We are not going [abroad] for just one week.
“Daytime at Scotstoun in May, it is ‘game on’, I promise you.”
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The Cape Town tussle was something special and it was to prove a crucial result in the final play-off shake-up.
The Lions looked odds on to claim the victory that would have earned them entry to the knock-out stage for the first time when they were handed a one-man advantage early in the second half by a red card for the Stormers wing, Davids.
They were already leading 21-15 and.
However, going down a man seemed to galvanise the hosts, particularly when No.8 Evan Roos galloped away for an outstanding solo try, fending off four would-be tacklers on his burst to the line.
With the clock ticking away, the Lions went back in front through the boot of centre Jordan Hendrikse.
However, their dreams were to be shattered as Stormers replacement lock Adre Smith claimed the match-winning score just four minutes from time.
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