The Stormers are attempting to scale a huge mountain when they take on United Rugby Championship (URC) defending champions Leinster in their semifinal clash at Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday evening (kick-off 6.30pm).
It is going to be a monster challenge for the Cape Town based team, who have never won an away URC play-off.
After winning the competition in their inaugural season, they hosted a second straight final in season two, only to be stunned by Munster 19-14 on their home turf.
Over the past two seasons the Stormers have finished fifth on the log which set them up with away quarter-finals against Glasgow Warriors in Scotland on both occasions, and they went down 27-10 in the 2024-25 campaign, as the Scottish side went on to win the title, and 36-18 last season.
This time around they finished third, which allowed them to host a play-off again, and they duly took out Cardiff 44-21, which now sees them travelling to Ireland to take on Leinster, who finished second on the log.
The Stormers now face a powerful side full of internationals, who have a point to prove after they were thumped in the Champions Cup final, and their demolition of the Lions in their quarter-final showed exactly what they are capable of.
Massive challenge
“We all understand that we’re going away to play a pretty strong outfit. We’re playing a strong team on their home ground, with lots of internationals. It’s going to be a massive mountain to climb,” said Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani.
“They’re a very good team, well coached, highly experienced and there are very little gaps to exploit, to be honest. Whatever strategy we decide to use, we know we’ll have to be at the top of our game.”
The Stormers, who are well known for their exciting attacking game play, may need to change things up a bit for the match, being without star playmaker Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu after his injury against Cardiff, with the more reserved Jurie Matthee set to step in.
They may thus need to switch to a bit more of a forward driven power game to try and overcome their opponents, and they will thus be hopeful that strong inside centre Dan du Plessis and lock Ruben van Heerden are available after picking up knocks last weekend.
“We can sit here and talk about pick-and-gos all we want, but the reality is that this is a strong team. If we can pick-and-go from our 22-metre line, we will definitely do it because it is a safe way of playing. However, it will be a massive mountain to climb in front of their home fans,” explained Hlungwani.
“This is a very strong team we are playing, so we have to look at everything. How they played against Bordeaux, against us in Dublin, against Toulouse and Edinburgh.
“That is what we are studying. Anything we can use to build confidence. If we want to stand a chance on Saturday, we have to limit their entries into our 22.”
