VIDEO: Stormers ready to 'run riot' in Gauteng
The Stormers, after an eight-match unbeaten run at the start of the season, have hit a couple of speed bumps that could still have dire consequences.
Back-to-back losses to the Sharks have seen them drop from first to third in the United Rugby Championship standings.
Two more defeats, to the Lions at Ellis Park this Saturday and against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld a week later, will not only end their dream of claiming the South African Shield, but will leave them under pressure with just six rounds remaining in the run-up to the play-offs.
However, the Stormers are not going to withdraw into their proverbial shells and adopt a conservative approach.
It will be ‘attack, attack and attack’ in The Den this coming Saturday.
Seasoned hooker Jean-Jacques Kotze, set to make his 50th appearance for the Cape Town-based franchise, made it clear that ‘running’ is the Stormers’ catchphrase.
“It is super important, if you look at what the SA Shield situation is,” Kotze told @JanDKrugby.
“It is not just about the Shield, but also to get our standards back up to where they were at the start of the competition,” he said of the lacklustre performance against the Sharks in Cape Town and Durban.
“We ticked a few boxes and left a number unticked.”
* (WATCH as Jan de Koning chat to Stormers hooker Jean-Jacques Kotze about their crucial two-match expedition to Gauteng…..)
He said that an expansive approach is on the cards at Ellis Park.
“We had a tough week [of preparation],” Kotze said, adding that running was a big part of their pre-match build-up.
“You can’t say it [altitude] doesn’t affect you, but to suggest it will impact you massively is also inaccurate.
“You can deal with it, while we have a number of players with international experience.
“There are so many aspects to a game that if you focus only on the altitude, everything will suffer.”
“There is way too much going on in a game to have the altitude at the forefront of your mind.
“You just have to focus on the next job.
“After the game, you can complain about how your lungs were burning.”
Kotze added that the three-week break, since the two Sharks losses, allowed them to refresh and fix some of the issues that plagued them.
@JanDKrugby
