Stormers eager to continue unbeaten run against Edinburgh in URC

The Stormers will be looking to keep their unbeaten record against Edinburgh intact when they take on the Scottish giants in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday evening (kick-off 5:05pm).

The hosts have yet to lose to Edinburgh in the URC, drawing with them 20-20 in Scotland and then beating them 28-17 in Cape Town in the quarterfinals during their first season in the competition, followed by a strong 34-18 win over them at the Cape Town Stadium last season.

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This time round the Stormers head into the game in ninth place on the log but just four points off the visitors in fourth, so it is a crucial game with both teams knowing a loss will impact their efforts to end the regular season in the top four.

“These games (v Edinburgh and Ulster next weekend) are absolutely critical. I know it’s very congested on the log between four and 10, but Stormers being ninth on the log isn’t where we want to be, especially with the standards we have set for ourselves over the past few years,” explained coach John Dobson.

“These next two games (in the URC) are do or die for us in terms of moving up the log. So they are pressure games.”

Slightly weakened

Edinburgh will be a slightly weakened team, with a few of their frontline players unavailable for the match having played for Scotland in their final Six Nations match against Ireland last weekend, but Dobson still believes they are a dangerous side that can’t be underestimated.

“It would have been quite tough for guys to play in Dublin and then get on a flight to Cape Town to play us. So they are missing a few Scottish internationals, but they have a very impressive team without them,” said Dobson.

“Ben Vellacott is very dangerous, Hamish Watson is a British & Irish Lion, Bill Mata is one of the best number eights in the world. So they are a tough team who hasn’t gone away this season and we will have to be at our best against them.”

For the Stormers they are without the injured Deon Fourie, who picked up a knee injury against the Bulls a few weeks ago, but they have welcomed back lock Salmaan Moerat for his first start since returning from injury a few games ago.

“He (Moerat) was incredible against the Sharks when he came off the bench and we got him on early against the Bulls at Loftus. He is an outstanding leader and is the captain. His work rate and his physicality are fantastic, so he is a big figure for us,” said Dobson.