‘A work in progress’: Stormers shake off favourites tag

The Stormers were quick to shake off the favourites tag ahead of their United Rugby Championship clash against the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday, with coach John Dobson insisting they still had much on which to improve.

The Stormers have had a fantastic unbeaten three-match run of local derbies, which has seen them move to the top of the SA Shield conference, while the Lions have gone the other way, losing their three games to sit bottom.

However, that doesn’t faze Dobson, who believes his charges have to keep their feet firmly on the ground and continue to improve in every match.

“We need to keep growing. We have got a lot of plaudits for the last few weeks but we can’t let that go to our heads.

“I think we aren’t as good as some of the praise we have got. We are still very much a work in progress.

“What we want to do is make a statement and get better every week. Last week against the Sharks, we weren’t the finished product by any stretch. That’s why we just want to get better this week.”

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This weekend’s match is the final in a run of home derbies that kicked off three weeks ago and is extremely important for both sides, with European qualification up for grabs for the SA Shield winners.

The SA teams then head over to the UK and Europe for one round of fixtures, with the Stormers up against Connacht and the Lions playing Leinster, before returning back home to host the overseas teams over two months of action.

Dobson believes that with the coming home fixtures in South African conditions, the Bulls and Lions will be favourites to pick up some big wins and the Stormers thus need as big a buffer as possible before then.

“These local derbies are incredibly important obviously for the South African conference and trying to qualify for whatever we can qualify. We travel after this and we are aware that we have a very tough game in Connacht,” explained Dobson.

“I think what is going to happen after that is when those teams travel down here, South African teams will be trying to fill their points every week by beating an opposition team in South African conditions when they have just come from winter.

“You can see the Bulls and Lions racking up five-pointer after five-pointer at Loftus and Ellis Park. So, we need to give ourselves a buffer for this upcoming away trip as much as possible. Then it is trying to fill your boots every week.”