Players will raise their game in Champions Cup, says Deon Fourie

Stormers loose forward Deon Fourie believes players tend to raise their performance level when competing in the Champions Cup, as his team prepare to kick off their European challenge against Clermont in France on Saturday.

Fourie, who has extensive experience playing in the Champions Cup after turning out for Lyon and Grenoble in France over a seven-year period, is expecting a tough introduction to the competition for his Stormers teammates.

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“From my past experience when you go into the Champions Cup the guys tend to raise the level of their game because it’s such a prestigious competition. Teams also usually put in all of their big stars because it is such a big thing to win the Champions Cup,” explained Fourie.

“So I think they will come out all guns blazing and it will be a good test for us as a squad playing in the European Cup for the first time.”

Clermont have been struggling in the Top 14 this season, but French teams tend to do well at home in the Champions Cup, and they will be eager to get a positive result over the visiting Stormers.

Strongest side

They will most likely put out their strongest possible side featuring a number of international stars and will probably look to get the upper hand in the set piece battle.

“Teams like Clermont are always packed with international stars and quality players. I think that up front will be our biggest challenge at the start of the match,” said Fourie.

“I think we saw with the French game against the Springboks on the end-of-year-tour they are quite dominant in the front row and they are quite evolved in that department as well. So we will need to handle that.

“They then have quality strike players at the back like Damian Penaud who has been scoring great tries for them and France. So I think it’s going to be an all-round good match.”

The Stormers will also have to get used to the weather quickly, with freezing temperatures expected leading up to and on match day.

“The weather was a bit of a shock, coming from Cape Town which was over 30 degrees and landing here at 0 degrees, but we will get used to it,” Fourie said.