Cape Town - While there could be slippery conditions at Cape Town Stadium, Stormers captain Steven Kitshoff says his team will keep on with their attacking style of play in Saturday's United Rugby Championship clash against the Ospreys (6.15pm kickoff).
The Capetonians made a number of errors on attack and nearly came up short against Ulster last week, but some luck and a heroic defensive effort in the final quarter saw them hold on for a 23-20 victory. United Rugby Championship referees boss Tappe Henning has confirmed that Ulster prop Callum Reid's try in the final minute should have been awarded, but instead, the match officials felt that it was a knock-on and gave a scrum to the Stormers.
The home team want to avoid being in a similar situation against the Ospreys, who are smarting from a 45-15 loss to the Lions at Ellis Park last week, and will hope to produce a much-improved performance on Saturday.
Stormers coach John Dobson said during a press conference on Wednesday that a proper review of the Ulster match revealed that much of the struggles were “self-inflicted”, especially with regards to the execution of the kicking game and making the wrong decisions in attack and defence.
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Kitshoff is confident that things will go better against the Ospreys.
“We trained really hard this week, almost simplifying the way we want to play. And then just coming up with better execution, and doing the right thing in the right area,” Kitshoff said.
“Last week was tough because we couldn't train on the Monday. We had a short two-day turnaround to prepare for Ulster ... and then a Currie Cup game. This week, we had a longer week, a normal week for us. We actually got a lot more done: some key things like the scrum, how we maul, and we had a hard look at ourselves.
“Overall in general play, it's just that execution, where we just want to play in the right areas and not give Ospreys opportunities to put pressure on us … Just playing our brand of rugby that we want to play, even if the field is wet.”
Kitshoff could come up against a former schoolmate in Ospreys tighthead Tom Botha, who began his career at Western Province, and he is excited about the scrum battle.
“Tom is an old schoolmate of mine – we were just a year apart at Paul Roos – so it's going to be fun playing against him! I somewhat followed his career over the years, and I think he did a good job for himself and actually starting well for the Ospreys,” Kitshoff said.
“So, it will be interesting and there will be some old memories coming up playing against him.”
Dobson confirmed that injured hooker Scarra Ntubeni is out for another week at least, and that flank Ernst van Rhyn is in doubt for the Ospreys match after hurting his elbow in training. Van Rhyn will be given until Friday's captain's practice to prove his fitness.
In more encouraging injury news, Dobson said that lock Salmaan Moerat's “return is imminent” and that he was back training with the team, and he could be ready to play in a week or two.
AFP