Rassie: We will keep on trying

The Stormers have lost the first two games on their Vodacom Super 14 tour – against the Crusaders in Christchurch and the Waratahs in Sydney – and now face an uphill battle on the remainder of their overseas excursion.

They tackle the Brumbies in Canberra on Saturday in what promises to be a tough test of the Cape Town side’s character.

Erasmus conceded that securing a place in the semi-finals at this stage is nigh impossible and that they would not even count on favourable results in other games to help them sneak in via the backdoor.

“I think if we played ourselves into a position on the log where we could still qualify and if we could win more games we could have pinned our hopes on other teams. For now though our first challenge is to play better on attack.

“If we attacked better we could have won more games and we could have looked at the log and the permutations.

“I don’t know if we still have a mathematical chance of qualifying or what. Our first priority now is to attack better.”

He also said the sub-standard performances on tour had a psychological effect on the players. “Yes, without a doubt. We lack confidence and that is what happens if things don’t work out for you, if you don’t get to score tries.

“One good pass or one spectacular try could be the turning point though. We just need to keep on trying on the attack and it is going to be of no help if we lose all hope now. We can only work harder and things will come together.”

After the game in Canberra the Stormers travel to Wellington in New Zealand to tackle the Hurricanes before completing their tour with a game against the Highlanders in Dunedin.