DHL Stormers keeping their heads down
Having beaten the Brumbies 31-11 at DHL Newlands on Saturday, the DHL Stormers now turn their attention to their clash with the Jaguares in Buenos Aires.
Three second-half tries saw the home team pull away from the Brumbies, who suffered their first defeat of the 2016 Vodacom Super Rugby season, as the gameplan to keep the Canberra side pinned in their own territory proved effective in front of an enthusiastic crowd at DHL Newlands.
The victory puts the DHL Stormers firmly on top of the Africa Conference One standings, but Head Coach Robbie Fleck knows that they have a tough assignment ahead of them in Buenos Aires before they can enjoy their bye week.
He explained at the post-match press conference that the squad will be hard at work preparing for their historic first Vodacom Super Rugby game in Argentina on Monday and Tuesday, before flying out on Wednesday.
“We are playing against a quality team who will be a different prospect at home.
“After tonight we are back at the grind, and we are looking forward to Monday. The rest is tonight and tomorrow [Sunday], but they are straight into it on Monday.
“We planned a long time ago for this, we are going to work hard on Monday and Tuesday and they can rest on the plane.
“It is massively important because we go into a bye week after that and then face the Sunwolves at DHL Newlands, so it is an important tour for us,” he said.
Fleck said that while there are still some areas that his team can improve, he was impressed with the way they executed the gameplan to keep the Brumbies frustrated.
“It wasn’t pretty all the time and there were some soft moments, but it is a really important win for us to take forward.
“We had to play smarter rugby than we did last week, the Brumbies are a quality outfit with a number of Wallabies in that side and if you think you can just build phases against them it wouldn’t really work.
“We had to be smart about the way we played and certainly the kicking game played an important role, I thought defensively our breakdown was excellent and we put them under pressure there, and likewise when we did keep the ball we handled their defensive breakdown,” he said.
The DHL Stormers coach was particularly impressed with the composure his team showed against a physically confrontational Brumbies team.
“You have to give credit to the Brumbies, they are a really quality side and they really stretched us at times, but the boys held in and we showed a lot of composure.
“We always knew it was goig to be a confrontational, physical battle, we know the Brumbies thrive on that physicality annd we had to step up, but we had to show immense composure.
“When there was a bit of niggle, I felt that our players were in control of themselves, I thought Juan’s handling of the ref was excellent and our boys showed a lot of maturity for a young side,” he said.
Fleck added that while they are under no illusions about the size of the task that awaits them in Argentina, the team has gained invaluable belief from the win over the Brumbies.
“It would have been tough for us to go to Argentina with another loss, so credit to the team and credit to the leadership.
“There is now a belief that we are on the right track, we are going to keep working hard, I am not too worried about what is happening outside, it is what is happening inside,” he said.
