Final game for now, but I may be back — Steven Kitshoff

Captain Steven Kitshoff admitted that he would be bidding Cape Town an emotional goodbye after playing his final game for the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship (URC) final against Munster on Saturday, but don’t be surprised to see him back one day.

Kitshoff is moving to Ulster at the end of the season and was expected to have his final home game in the quarterfinal against the Bulls three weeks ago.

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But two upsets later, with Connacht beating Ulster in their quarterfinal and Munster beating Leinster in the semis, the Stormers ended up hosting a semifinal and now the final, giving Kitshoff two more home goodbyes.

“I feel confident, nervous and excited. But all in the right direction, there is no real fear for this game,” said Kitshoff at the pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.

“This is my final game for now. But I can always come back to the Stormers and I will always keep that door open. So it’s going to be an emotional one. It is rugby first, 80 minutes of play and then I will take it from there.”

Massive challenge

Kitshoff knows that his side faces a massive challenge against Munster, who they have yet to beat in the URC, and said that a good, high intensity start is key for them in the match.

In their pool stage loss against them last month, and in the semi-final against Connacht two weeks ago, the Stormers got off to slow starts and had to fight back, with them unable to real in Munster, but able to overcome Connacht in the end.

“We all know this pitch and it’s almost impossible to play catch up rugby on it. If you go down a few points at the start you are going to have to fight like hell to get them back,” said Kitshoff.

“When we played Munster here (last month) we went down by 12 points within the first couple of minutes in the game and then clawed our way back.

“It was a tough day out last time against them. So we understand the threats of Munster and we have had a really deep dive into their DNA and the way they play. So we understand we can’t allow them to get their tails up and we can’t allow them to score early.

“It’s impossible to guarantee a good start (to the game). But you can guarantee a start with intensity and getting on the front foot early in the game. The scoreboard might not look it, but it makes you feel like you are on top of them.”