Stormers hope to ‘execute better’ against Edinburgh, says Levy

The Stormers are set to take the positives from their fighting loss against Munster over the past weekend into their match against Edinburgh in Scotland on Saturday.

While the Stormers put in a much improved showing from their opening defeat against Benetton Rugby, and even had a chance of causing an upset against Munster by leading 15-7 at half-time, the hosts fought back to win 31-18.

They will now try put in a full 80-minute performance against Edinburgh and pick up their first win of the United Rugby Championship.

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“We took a lot away from Saturday. We were a lot happier than the previous week obviously with our style of play, while we showed a bit of intent and a lot of commitment,” said Stormers skills coach Labeeb Levy.

“There are things we are looking to improve on like unnecessary penalties in various areas of the field, while there were some expensive moments we felt cost us and certain defensive aspects we want to work on that we need to improve.”

Edinburgh themselves will be really fired up for the Stormers clash as they have also had a poor start to the season with two losses – against the Dragons and then by just one point against Benetton this past weekend – so they will be eager to get themselves on the board with a win in the coming match.

The Stormers, however, have done their homework and know what kind of challenge to expect on the day, including readying themselves to play on a synthetic pitch.

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“They are in-between coaches so they are changing from a team that was solely a kicking team. They are trying different stuff to have a more rounded game, probing in the midfield and also trying to throw the ball around a bit,” said Levy.

“They also have their key individuals – their eight, nine and 12 – so they will be utilising them first, but part of our focus is to get them to stop us as well.

“We are also playing on a synthetic 4G pitch which comes with a different dynamic because there will be more bounce in the run, more bounce in the ball. We are expecting a wobble here and there, so we will train on a similar pitch in order to prepare the guys for the game.

“So we have put in a lot of focus on analysing them and putting in defensive plans for their star players and general attack, but our big focus is to execute better because we feel that our team gets confidence by playing more, by handling the ball more, and if we can keep promoting that we can play the Cape Town style we always talk about.”