Stormers well prepared for desperate La Rochelle in Champions Cup

Stormers coach John Dobson says his side is fully prepared for the massive challenge of facing double Champions Cup defending champs La Rochelle at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 3pm).

With both teams having lost their Champions Cup openers, the Stormers beaten 35-26 by Leicester Tigers in England while La Rochelle went down to Leinster 16-9 at home, last weekend, they will both be desperate to pick up a win to stay in the hunt in the competition.

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With them in what is considered as the competitions pool of death a second straight loss could very well end the chances of their progression from the group, so the French visitors have brought a full strength side to South Africa for the game, which is not often the case when teams from France travel.

“I don’t think you can get a tougher match (than against La Rochelle). They are arguably the best club team in the world at the moment, having won two Champions Cup’s in a row and they are also one of the biggest sides in world rugby in terms of their physical size,” said Dobson.

“They are fully loaded and desperate (after losing to Leinster and they want to build a dynasty of European rugby but won’t be in a position to do that if they have played two, lost two in this tournament.

“So they have backed their full strength team for this game. They are fully focused on this game. If they had won at home (last week) maybe their team would have looked different.”

Full emphasis

The Stormers have also placed full emphasis on this match, as was evidenced by them sending a second string side to Leicester for their opener, leaving all of their Springbok stars at home to prepare for the game and they will now be fresh and fired up for the challenge.

“How we have prepared for this game is what we have done this last two weeks. We didn’t take those guys (first choice players) to Leicester,” explained Dobson.

“We have been trying to make plans for them (La Rochelle), to understand their kicking game and understand their power game. It has been all about building confidence from two weeks of preparation, because I think this game is going to be massive.

“Obviously three of our players have just won a World Cup. But quite a few of our players will have never played a game at the level and physicality that we will see on Saturday.

“If you watched the start of the Leinster (v La Rochelle) game last week you would have seen it resembled the South Africa and Ireland (World Cup) pool game it was so intense and physical.”