The Stormers have enjoyed a brilliant start to the season with seven straight wins, and return to South Africa after five straight victories on the road. Picture: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images The triumphant Stormers finally return to South Africa, still unbeaten, thanks to a seven game winning run, the last five of which have all been away on the road, including in their Champions Cup opener against Aviron Bayonnais in Bayonne this past Friday. In a tough encounter the Stormers had to rely on a late show, scoring 10 points in the final five minutes, to secure avital 26-17 away winover the hosts, to get their competition off to a great start.
It continued their brilliant start to the season that has seenthe Stormers win allof their United Rugby Championship (URC) games so far, to currently sit top of the log as the only unbeaten side in the tournament. They started their URC campaign with home wins over Leinster and Ospreys, before heading overseas where they beat Scarlets, Zebre and Benetton. The November International break wasn’t able to break their momentum, as they got straight back into the groove last week with a win over Munster in Limerick, and followed that up with a strong start to the Champions Cup.
Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson admitted that they were thrilled with their start to the season, but that they were looking forward to finally playing back in front of their home fans in SA. They start with a Champions Cup second round clash against La Rochelle in Gqeberha, and a win there would put them on the brink ofqualifying for the playoffs, followed by a URC match against the Lions in Cape Town. “We have to win our ‘home’ game next week (against La Rochelle).
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If we can get that right we will probably get into the EPCR playoffs, and that will be special having missed out last year,” said Dobson. “We can’t wait to play in front of our home fans. We have worked hard for these away wins.
Benetton hadn’t lost at home (in the URC) in a calendar year, Bayonne had only lost here once in three years, Munster hardly lose at Thomond Park. “So these were all good experiences. But we just can’t wait to play some rugby in front of our people.” Dobson said it was a special comeback win over Bayonne, after the Stormers led 16-5 at halftime, before a 20-minute red card to Adre Smith, and a yellow card to Leolin Zas saw them play 30 minutes of the second half with 14 men, which helped the hosts take a 17-16 lead, before the thrilling finish.
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