Bulls aiming to go back-to-back, Stormers have it all to do in Champions Cup

The Bulls have a fantastic opportunity to pick up back-to-back wins in the Champions Cup as they head to France for their clash against Lyon, while the Stormers have it all to do hosting double defending champs La Rochelle in Cape Town this weekend.

The Bulls started their campaign with a hard fought 27-16 win over English giants Saracens at Loftus over the weekend and they will be aiming to take that momentum into their clash against a struggling Lyon.

The French hosts are languishing in 12^th place on the Top 14 league table, having picked up three wins and six losses in their nine games thus far, while they lost their Champions Cup opener 36-34 against Bristol Bears.

Good momentum

Despite the Bulls having good momentum heading into the game, however, coach Jake White will not let the team get ahead of themselves and knows exactly what challenge they face, after they were denied a four-try bonus point by a battling Saracens on Saturday.

“To be honest, I think we learnt a lot from that game. The way they defended their try-line at the end to not give us a bonus point just shows the quality of the group they have,” White said after the match.

“So (we took) a lot of learnings (from the game) as well. If you want to be the champions and you want to play at this level, even on your bad days you have to be as ruthless as they were at the end.”

Tough task

The Stormers face a difficult challenge when they host La Rochelle at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday, but they will have a refreshed group ready for the match after their second-string side went down 35-26 to Leicester Tigers in England last week.

La Rochelle have not had the best of seasons so far, sitting ninth on the Top 14 log with four wins and five losses, while they also lost their Champions Cup opener at home against Leinster 16-9, but as double defending champs they know exactly how to win in this competition.

With a tough run of important home games coming up, the Stormers sent an understrength side to Leicester, and despite being firmly in the game for 80 minutes they walked away with nothing, so they will hope that their gamble pays off with a good win over the two-time French champs.