The Stormers need to show greater intensity in defence – but that doesn’t mean that they will be conservative in Saturday’s massive United Rugby Championship clash against Leinster at Cape Town Stadium (7.05pm kick-off).
That was how defence coach Norman Laker viewed the situation the Capetonians find themselves in after a rather forgettable 27-21 defeat to the Ospreys last weekend.
The Stormers reduced their chances of securing a home play-off as a result, and in fact, another loss against the Irish giants – who are likely to field a similar second-string side that went down 44-12 to the Lions at Ellis Park – could see John Dobson’s team drop out of the top eight entirely.
Last year’s losing finalists are in sixth position on the log on 40 points, and are followed by Ospreys (40), and four teams on 39 – Edinburgh, Connacht, Ulster and the Lions.
So, they can’t afford another slip-up against Leinster this weekend, and need to eliminate the silly errors that cost them the game against the Ospreys.
They will hope to get back into the groove that saw them go on a six-match winning streak across all competitions from December to February, having lost three and won two out of their last five encounters.
But while their insistence on sticking to their all-out attacking approach is admirable, what would push them to rein themselves in a bit?
“We have spoken about it, especially the offloads – but that’s who we are. That’s what makes us different from any other team. So, if we are going to take it away from the guys, then we are the same as any other team,” Laker said yesterday.
“Yes, maybe option-taking with the offloads was maybe not always at the right time, but we are definitely not going to go into our shells and be something that we are not.
“One thing that Dawie (Snyman, attack coach) is working on hard is the communication between the ball carriers. Two or three times the communication came, and then the ball carrier offloads it – but if I’m screaming for the ball and it was the wrong option, then the ball carrier must rather keep it and take it up.”
Laker, though, was clear on what he expected to see from his defence, who conceded four tries against the Ospreys – and which may be boosted by the return of captain Salmaan Moerat and flank Ben-Jason Dixon, who missed last week’s game due to concussion and have returned to training.
“One thing we spoke about, that I wasn’t really happy with on Saturday, was our intensity on defence,” he said.
“Normally we are a well-oiled defensive unit, but on Saturday, we were just coming in drips and drabs. In this competition, we don’t underestimate any team. Leinster played Zebre in the first game last year, and Zebre nearly upset them: it was a 31-29 game.
“I don’t say we underestimated Ospreys, but our intensity on ‘D’ wasn’t the same as the previous weeks.”