RUGBY NEWS - The DHL Stormers have returned from their three match Vodacom Super Rugby tour of Australasia confident that the groundwork has been laid for them to mount a strong challenge in the remaining months of the competition.
That might seem odd to anyone who hasn’t watched the Stormers play the three games they lost in Australia and in New Zealand. After all, their record reads three losses in four starts from the season, and that pales in comparison to the record of the Lions, which at the moment is the direct inverse of the Stormers’ record – three wins in four starts.
You need to look at the detail though, and the fact that the Lions have only played on the highveld while the Stormers have already played three games in Australasia is not an insignificant one. They should have won their first tour game against the Waratahs and will kick themselves for not doing so.
The other two games against the Crusaders and the Highlanders weren’t ones they were expected to win, particularly given the crippling injury list they started the tour with and which grew longer once they were on the road. The Stormers played both those teams last year and in both clashes they delivered performances infinitely superior to what they produced in 2017.
Of course, professional sport is about results, and Stormers coach Robbie Fleck knows that. He also knows he cannot be seen to be making excuses. But he is right when he says the problems that tripped his team up, such as the lineouts, are easily identifiable. The improvements that have been made should be as obvious as their failings. At least they should be to those who watched last year’s tour games.
