The Stormers will count on their positive overseas results and a tough-as-nails South African derby in the last couple of matches to give them momentum ahead of their United Rugby Championship knockout match this weekend.
A testing season will culminate in a clash with Glasgow Warriors on Saturday (8.35pm kick-off) for a place in the semi-finals.
And coming off the back of four successive wins in the competition, the inaugural URC champions would want that to be a driving factor at Scotstoun Stadium.
It will be the first away play-off for the Cape side as they’ve played all six of their knockouts at Cape Town Stadium over the past two seasons.
So far, they’ve successfully navigated the gravel road they’ve been on since the start of the current campaign, and on Saturday, another big test awaits at a stadium they haven’t tasted success at as yet.
Stormers centre Dan du Plessis, though, believes they have the winning momentum to take them over the line.
“Glasgow have stepped it up a notch in attack since Franco (Smith) has taken over. They’ve played attractive rugby at times, and also showed they’ve got what it takes to win big games,” Du Plessis said on the Stormers website.
“I do think we’ve gone there previously and not put up our best performances.
“We’ve learnt a lot from our last two trips to Scotstoun Stadium, and we’ll do everything in our power to change the outcome this week.”
Head coach John Dobson spoke about changing their fortunes in Glasgow, and how this is the perfect opportunity to do it. They lost 24-17 and 20-9 in their two previous visits in January last year and in November – having won 32-7 in Cape Town in April 2022.
Du Plessis believes the 29-24 victory over the Lions last Saturday was critical in taking confidence into the clash.
The vibes at DHL Stadium were on another level for Ben-Jason Dixon's 50th DHL Stormers match on Saturday. #iamastormer #dhldelivers pic.twitter.com/HStfVTAXeX
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) June 3, 2024
That they had success in two recent overseas games against Connacht and the Dragons, where in the past they maybe would have lost one, also inspired the side.
“We took a lot of confidence and lessons from those games, and it was important to come back home and solidify that against a very strong Lions team that had it all to play for,” the 29-year-old centre said.
“What we can take from the win, and has maybe been creeping into our game the last couple of weeks, is our discipline.
“Going into a quarter-final in Glasgow, we cannot afford to be giving so many penalties away, and you’re shooting yourself in the foot if you do that in a play-off game.
“But it was also a big positive for us to show we can step up with 14 men – it was tough to adjust to losing Angelo (Davids to a red card), but the boys really put up their hands and showed we can fight.”