‘We are who we are’: Stormers not changing their game plan

The Stormers will not change their game plan when they welcome London Irish to the Cape Town City Stadium for their Champions Cup encounter on Saturday night, despite their disappointing opening loss against Clermont in France.

The Stormers were upended by their French hosts last week, after taking a 14-3 lead into the half-time break, as Clermont responded with 21 unanswered points in the second half to seal a 24-14 win.

The visitors were unable to get their regular running game going as they struggled to keep hold of the ball, and were smothered when they had it, but despite those challenges they will back themselves in favourable home conditions this weekend.

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“We are who we are. We are not going to change it up after one loss. We had never played in those conditions before, because we are really fortunate to play in warm weather in South Africa,” said experienced Stormers centre Ruhan Nel.

“Our past quality was so accurate in our transitions from defence to attack. All of these things play a role. All of a sudden you are chasing a game and feeling the pressure, so there is going to be a wrong or panicked decision. We did that to teams with our defence last season. These are all fixables.”

Valuable experience

Nel believed the experience in Clermont would make them a stronger team and help prepare them for future matches in the competition in France.

“It was an awesome experience. The stadium is small and intimate. You could hear people walking around with drums. It’s in a small town and the local fans really value their rugby,” said Nel.

“After halftime, it felt like we were immediately under pressure. We made mistake after mistake. Sometimes the smart option is the easy option, even if it’s just kicking the ball downfield to ease the pressure.

“It was definitely a learning curve for us. We have to play a smarter plan to start turning the momentum. But full credit has to go to Clermont. They were really good in terms of exploiting our mistakes.”

London Irish have had a torrid time of it this season in the English Premiership and they also lost their Champions Cup opener against Montpellier Herault, so they will be desperate for a confidence boosting upset over the Stormers to help try kick-start a turnaround in their season.