DHL Stormers expecting fierce Jaguares

The clash against the team from Argentina will be the final pre-season match for Fleck’s team before they start the 2016 Vodacom Super Rugby season, following their convincing 40-15 victory over the South Western Districts Eagles in George on Saturday, January 30.

Tickets for the match are on sale from Computicket at a cost of R50 each with season tickets not valid for the match which will not be televised.

The Jaguares are one of three new teams, along with the Southern Kings and the Sunwolves from Japan, in a new expanded version of Vodacom Super Rugby this year, and Fleck is expecting them to be extremely competitive.

The DHL Stormers coach knows that the visitors from Argentina will provide a stern test, and warned that they could surprise quite a few teams in their debut season given all of the Puma World Cup stars at their disposal.

“I certainly feel that the Jaguares are the threat in the South African conferences. That is a tough pool that the Emirates Lions, the Cell C Sharks and the Southern Kings are in with the Jaguares there.

“I feel that if you go according to what they did at the World Cup and the amount of players that they have got in their squad that were at the World Cup, they are a real danger not just to the South African sides but to the New Zealand sides that they will be playing as well.

“We have a talented but very young team playing for us this year and the key for us will be to get off to a good start and thus build confidence. In that sense next week’s clash with the Jaguares will be a good gauge. We’ve certainly worked hard in the off-season and this will be the time to test it,” he said.

The match will also provide the first opportunity for the DHL Newlands Faithful to see their team, including the new players, in action as they continue to build towards their opening Vodacom Super Rugby encounter with the Vodacom Bulls on February 27.