Fleck sees tour as growth opportunity

If you look at the DHL Stormers’ recent record in New Zealand and Australia you’d see the coming weeks as a potential stumbling block to the Cape team’s chances of Vodacom Super Rugby success, but coach Robbie Fleck sees it differently.

The Stormers have done a great job of turning around the early part of their season following the humiliating defeat on the opening weekend. After appearing down and out following that 40-3 loss to the Bulls at Loftus, the Stormers have now managed to climb to joint top spot on the South African conference table following wins over the Lions, the Sharks and now the Jaguares.

In the Lions match, their first at Newlands, they used their get-out-of-jail card, and were perhaps fortunate to win. But coming out on the positive side of the result against a team they had not beaten since 2015 imbued them with the confidence to score a good away win over the Sharks before completely outplaying the Jaguares at Newlands in their last game ahead of Sunday’s departure for their four-match tour of Australasia.

The Jaguares were far closer to full strength than they were against the Lions the previous week, and came to Cape Town making no bones of the fact that the Stormers game was one they had targeted. '

But the Stormers’ mix of forward power and physical, aggressive and stifling defence, which incidentally are the same ingredients that have just won Wales the Six Nations, was too much for the visitors.

The Stormers picked up a try-scoring bonus point and while the Lions have 13 log points, the same number as the Stormers and the Bulls, the Johannesburg team has played one game more.

What is significant, and perhaps encouraging, is that the Stormers are still far from perfect, and the drive towards game development is something that Fleck hopes will accelerate, rather than decelerate, now that they are on their way to New Zealand.

"An Australasian tour is always an opportunity to grow as a unit and definitely something that we as a group look forward to,” said Fleck ahead of the squad’s departure for Wellington, where the Stormers will open their tour against the Hurricanes on Friday.

"We have made some good progress already this season, but we know that we can raise our standards further, which is the mindset on this tour," he added.

Influential lock Eben Etzebeth will miss the first game after failing a concussion test during the win over the Jaguares, but he will be ready for the matches that follow. That said, the Stormers management should have been pleased with the form shown in the first appearance of the season by his replacement, Cobus Wiese.

Two additional locks have been added to the tour group in the form of the experienced Chris van Zyl and the prodigiously talented youngster Salmaan Moerat. In all there are four additions to the 23-man squad that did duty against the Jaguares, with flyhalf Josh Stander and prop Michael Kumbirai completing the group of 27.

The Stormers travel to Auckland to face the Blues the week after the Hurricanes game before travelling to Australia for matches against the Reds in Brisbane and the Rebels in Melbourne.

DHL Stormers touring squad: Juarno Augustus, Jaco Coetzee, Damian de Allende, Dan du Plessis, Jean-Luc du Plessis, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Corne Fourie, Herschel Jantjies, Steven Kitshoff, Siya Kolisi (captain), Michael Kumbirai, Dillyn Leyds, Wilco Louw, Frans Malherbe, SP Marais, Bongi Mbonambi, Salmaan Moerat, Ruhan Nel, Scarra Ntubeni, Sergeal Petersen, Justin Phillips, JD Schickerling, Joshua Stander, Chris van Zyl, Cobus Wiese, Damian Willemse.