Stormers want to control the tempo in derby against the Bulls

Controlling the tempo of the match, especially at the start will be key for the Stormers when they clash with the Bulls in their huge North-South United Rugby Championship (URC) derby at Loftus on Saturday afternoon.

In their past two meetings against arguably their biggest local rival, the Stormers have been caught out by fast starts and gone on to lose the match.

Last year in Pretoria the Bulls ran in a first minute try before pulling away for a 40-22 win, while earlier this month in Cape Town the Highveld side crossed within the first two minutes, on their way to a thrilling 33-32 win.

Stormers scrumhalf Stefan Ungerer this week said all the players needed to all be on the same page and ready from the start to make sure they don’t allow the Bulls to get ahead early in the game.

“If you look at the game in Cape Town as well, they scored first in the first couple of minutes. So it is something that we have been working on and thinking of going forward,” explained Ungerer.

“We just need to get our heads in the right place in the first couple of minutes and make sure that we start in the manner and tempo that we want to. We all need to understand the plan and be on the same page.”

Set piece battle

Despite having lost to the Bulls in their last two games, and the manner of their tight defeat in Cape Town, where a missed conversion with a minute left of the clock ultimately cost them, Ungerer said they can still take a bit out of that game, and that it will likely come down to the set piece battle.

“It obviously has to start up front with the set piece battle. They will probably be looking at that game in Cape Town and hope to replicate what they did to us in the scrums and lineouts,” said Ungerer.

“For us it’s about sticking to our processes, what we know we can do well and making sure that we finish off the opportunities that we will create. We can take a bit out of it, but it’s a completely new game at a different venue and there are a couple of different faces from who played in the last game.

“We won’t dwell too much on it. The main thing will be to keep playing Stormers rugby all the way to the end. Even after missing that kick we still had an opportunity to go and win it.

“I think we had some good passages of play in the second half which showed when we do have the ball and do go forward first, that we can open up teams and finish off in the wider channels. So definitely a few positives we took out of that.”