Stormers ready for assault on Semi finals

Article Published: Monday 7 April 2008
Editor: Rugbyweek.com

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The Stormers start the final phase in their quest for a Super 14 semifinal berth on Saturday, when they host the Cheetahs at Newlands.

They returned from their tour to Australasia with 16 points and with five consecutive home games and being placed eighth on the league table the Stormers will look like a team that could reach the final four.

Stormers Captain Jean de Villiers says that the the important thing now is for them to sustain the winning momentum they picked up on tour.

“The tour was most enjoyable. We are a bunch of nice guys together and its always nice to travel together. We are youngsters, who don’t really have families yet, so that makes it easier. " he says on the Stormers web site.

“If you win, the team spirit will always be good. I must give credit to the guys who didn’t play too – it wasn’t just about the starting XV, but also about the reserves and the four other guys who didn’t play. The coaching staff and medical staff and everybody contributed and we could get the results in the end.”

De Villiers points to Self-belief as a contributor to the teams success on tour, “We always knew the first three games were going to be difficult, but we always firmly believed in our abilities.

“But we are only halfway there and we still have a lot of hard work to do. At least we can now tackle our home games with confidence and hopefully we can get more good results.”

De Villiers says that the team has grown as a unit in every game so far, “We didn’t get the results in those first three games, but since then we have grown a lot as a team and we’ve learnt a lot in those games.

“From an attacking point of view, we created a lot of opportunities, but our finishing wasn’t good enough. Now we’ve started to finish off our opportunities and the record shows that we can score tries. We got five points in three games overseas.

“Not a single team could score four tries against us this year – and indication that we are on track with our defence too. And we have played al four semi-finalists or last season.

“I think we are on the right track and if we can keep it up, it will go well.”

De Villiers was happy with the upward curve his own game is showing. “There definitely still is room for improvement, but as long at it improves game by game I am happy.

“I needed match fitness and confidence after my injury and hopefully I can maintain things now. I just want to play good rugby.”

De Villiers also urges Stormers supporters to return to Newlands on Saturday in big numbers. “Come to Newlands, because we owe the Stormers’ faithful a few good wins at Newlands.