Stormers ‘battle-hardened and ready’ for Harlequins, says Dobson

The 22-all draw against Leinster in the United Rugby Championship (URC) last week was the perfect preparation for the Stormers’ Champions Cup last 16 match against Harlequins at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

After missing a number of key players who were rested and then part of a Springbok training camp over the past two months, the Stormers were finally able to field a full-strength side against the URC table toppers in Dublin.

They acquitted themselves well in the entertaining game and will be full of confidence as they prepare to host the English challengers in their knockout match this weekend.

“The first task (against Leinster) was to get the guys battle-hardened and ready for Harlequins, which is a knockout game. As a team, we wanted to get together again,” explained Stormers coach John Dobson.

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“We didn’t play some guys for the first two rounds of the Currie Cup, so even guys like Joseph Dweba were a little bit rusty, as well as the Springboks who have been with us (and not at the Bok camp),” he added.

“We tried to get some combinations going. That was our main job to get out of this game. We had it clearly worked out. The second thing was to learn more about these conditions.”

‘A great spectacle’

Looking at the crunch last 16 match, which the hosts are hoping to play in front of a packed stadium in Cape Town, Dobson believed his team were up for the challenge.

“It looks like we’re going to be ready (for Harlequins). We’ve done quite a bit of work on them. It’s going to be a great spectacle in our conditions, with their style of rugby,” said Dobson.

“Danny Care and Marcus Smith, they’ve got real skill with those two half-backs. They play a great, attractive brand of rugby, so we are going to do what we did against Leinster, slow some ball down (at the breakdown) and stop Andre Esterhuizen.”