Stormers taking the corner with Lions despite owning the road

Taking the corner and having already negotiated it are two different things — a point not lost on Stormers head coach John Dobson.

The Stormers will fly to Johannesburg for Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) clash against the Lions with two wins and a draw in their most recent matches, but Dobson is trying hard to keep his players grounded, mentally at least.

Dobson is keenly aware that his players need to draw confidence from those performances to give them a spring in their step instead of an unwarranted swagger.

“That is exactly the balance we are looking for this week. We cannot afford to become overconfident,” said Dobson.

Besides, growth doesn’t happen where there is complacency. “It’s important for us that we keep growing. We got a lot of plaudits for the past few weeks, but we can’t let that go to our heads.

“We are probably not as good as some of the praise we got. I think we are still a work in progress and what we want to do is make a statement to get better every week.

“Last week was not the finished product by any stretch and that is why we want to get better this week,” said Dobson.

Though the decent streak took the Stormers to the top of the SA conference, they lost so much ground early in the competition that they have to be unrelenting in their approach in the rest of the campaign.

They suffered defeat to the Lions at the start of December and defeat at Ellis Park will stunt much of the momentum they’ve built in recent weeks.

“In terms of the SA conference it is critical,” said Dobson about Saturday’s clash. “We know we lost a home game convincingly to the same team, and in terms of the SA conference, the only way we could make up for that is if we win away, so that’s important to us.

“It’s also important for us in that we go on the road in two weeks’ time with a hard fixture in Connacht.”

Ireland’s Connacht may have lost their past four matches, but Dobson pointed out his team is likely to play in 3°C temperature with a stiff breeze sweeping in from the Atlantic.

Their more immediate priority, however, is the Lions and they know they need to bank whatever they can on SA soil if they are going to top the conference.