Stormers brace for massive scrum battle against Edinburgh

The Stormers are bracing for a monster scrum battle when they welcome Edinburgh to the Cape Town Stadium for their United Rugby Championship (URC) encounter on Saturday evening.

Edinburgh, who are smarting after a heavy 54-17 loss to the Lions over the past weekend, will be bolstering their team with some returning Scottish internationals, including their scrum, which by the numbers is the best in the competition.

South Africa-born Scottish international Pierre Schoeman is expected to be back in the starting lineup, and could partner fellow Scottish international Ewan Ashman, and with Springbok prop Boan Venter make an intimidating front row.

However Stormers prop Sazi Sandi says that they are ready for the challenge and are excited to front up against some of the best forwards in the URC, especially after their strong recent scrum performances, including against the Dragons over the past weekend.

Great scrum culture

“We’ve built a great scrum culture. We’ve got a really strong back five (in the pack) and those guys are fully bought in. Every scrum, they’re keen and excited to go,” explained Sandi.

“As props, we love that. It gives you confidence knowing the guys behind you are all in. You don’t have to worry about anything else, you just focus on your job and your process.

“The biggest thing for us is to come together as a unit and not do our own thing. When we do that, we’re at our best.”

Sandi, who played off the bench against the Dragons, will be reaching a personal milestone on the weekend when he makes his 50^th appearance for the Stormers against Edinburgh.

“It’s definitely special. It’s something I earmarked at the start of the season. To get close to 50 for this team means a lot,” said Sandi.

Stormers attack coach Dawie Snyman was also asked about the potential scrum battle between the two sides, and said the team wouldn’t be looking to shy away from that battle on the day, despite the strength of the Edinburgh pack.

“You’re probably asking the wrong guy,” said Snyman with a chuckle. “But Scrums are part of the game and we pride ourselves in that department. We want to test ourselves against the best.

“There are going to be scrums in the game, so we have to make sure we get it right. We know it’s a platform for us as well, so we are definitely not going to run away from it now.”