Stormers ‘need to be sharp for 80 minutes’ against Benetton

Assistant coach Dawie Snyman says the Stormers “need to be sharp for 80 minutes” against Benetton when the teams clash in Stellenbosch on Friday.

The Stormers managed to score a late try to secure two bonus points as the hosts went down 26-24 against Munster in the United Rugby Championship at Cape Town Stadium last week.

The hosts fought back from an early deficit to draw level at 12-12 at half time but after failing to capitalise on their dominance in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, crucially conceded tries.

‘Sharp for 80 minutes’

Benetton, who need a big win to possibly force their way into the top eight, travel to Danie Craven Stadium to face the defending URC champions and speaking in a Stormers conference on Monday, Snyman is wary of the Italians’ threat.

“We need to be sharp for 80 minutes because if you relax they can get their tails up,” he told reporters. “Give them something and they will hurt you. But what’s also important to us, is to put in a good performance defensively as well as on the attack.

“They are a very good attacking team and have shown it previously against the Bulls in the Rainbow Cup. If you look at their matches, they’re a team that starts well.

“And then they play attractive rugby. You can see the similarities between the Italian national side and Benetton.”

Home semi-final

The Munster defeat was a first home loss for the Stormers since December 2021, and allowed Ulster to overtake them into second place on the URC log, and they will hope that Edinburgh can do them a favour by beating the Ulstermen in Belfast to revive hope of a home semi-final.

Snyman added: “We want to build into that sort-of quarter-final scenario. We want to work on a few things and make sure that is spot on. It’s about some guys getting game time, so that we can make sure we are ready for that quarter-final in a few weeks.

“But we are also not looking past the quarters, because you might secure a home semi-final, but then not make it past the quarter-final.

“That pressure we put on ourselves is because of our performance. We didn’t want that result against Munster, so we want to make sure all areas of our game are corrected this weekend.”

This story first appeared on sarugbymag.co.za. It is republished here with permission. For the original story click here.