Stormers ready for Bulls quarterfinal clash, says Willemse

The Stormers are mentally tougher than they were when they were challenging for the inaugural United Rugby Championship (URC) a year ago, so going into Saturday’s quarterfinal as defending champions will not be a burden on the hosts.    

That was the gist of the message from Damian Willemse about what might be different this time around in comparison with the challenges they faced in 2021/22.

It would be easy to assume that as hosts and having finished higher on the log than the Bulls, who were vastly the inferior team during the league phase of the competition, the Stormers are carrying extra pressure. But Willemse disputes that.

“As a team, we know this is a big game, but we are not putting extra pressure on ourselves,” he said.

“We know where we are as a team and the goal we are working towards and where we stand at the moment in relation to that goal. Our aim is to get better each week and to work on areas where we see ourselves falling down during the analysis process.

“There are a few things we’ve worked on this past month, where we’ve come a bit short, that we are rectifying.

“Whatever the result is on Saturday, if we put up what we feel was a good performance and lose, then we know we have given it our best shot,” Willemse said.

“We are mentally tougher now. When you go through setbacks together and rectify the mistakes you make, that definitely makes you stronger as a team.

“We are always looking at where we can improve our game and we did that after the two losses we had at the end of a tough month where we played a lot of tough games.

“We had some hard chats, we’ve stuck together and we feel we are growing as a unit.”

One thing Willemse knows for certain is that his team’s passage to the semifinal, if it comes to that, won’t be secured easily.

“A lot of people reference our five wins in a row against the Bulls, but all of those games have been won by within seven to 10 points,” he said. 

“Every game has been close, and most of them have been still in the balance in the last minutes. It is always a tough game against the Bulls.

“People are talking about which team has momentum, but I would say that is neutral. It is not going to be easy and we are preparing for a very tough and physical match.

“We have looked at what they did over the last three weekends and it is clear they are a dangerous side,” he said.

“No north-south game is ever easy and there will be breaks, big hits, crunching moments and key moments, key steals, that will determine the result.

“It is up to us for now to just focus on our preparation so we are ready for Saturday.

“It was a blow for us to lose to Munster after a tough month, but it is all about what we need to implement on Saturday and I am sure if we do that it will put us in a position to win the game.”

SuperSport.com