Stormers to stick to guns against Leinster

Play-off mode may have been foisted upon the Stormers, but they are unlikely to deviate from the attacking instincts that have made them such an irresistible force in the short history of the United Rugby Championship (URC).

They square up with top dogs Leinster on Saturday knowing they lack precision in their offload game, but they are also aware this is not the time to be shackled by fear.

Even the defence coach is on the same page.

“We have spoken about it. That is who we are and that is what makes us different from any other team,” Norman Laker said.

“If we’re going to take it away from the guys then we’re the same as any other team.

“Our option-taking with offloads was maybe not always at the right time. But we are definitely not going to get into our shells and be someone we are not.”

As always, it is a lack of effective communication that has caused disharmony.

“Our attack coach Dawie [Snyman] has spoken to the guys about the communication.

“Sometimes you get overexcited and I am carrying the ball and, for example, Marcel [Theunissen] sees a hole in the defence and he shouts for me to offload the ball instead of telling me there’s a hole, but there’s also a defender there so rather set up the ball and set up another phase.

“In past games, the decisions went in our favour and we were standing under the poles clapping hands and smiling at each other. This time it wasn’t the same. We went for it but instead of celebrating a try to a 7-0 lead we ended up conceding the try ourselves and suddenly found ourselves down 5-0.

“There were a few lessons we learnt, which was good. Not the defeat, but the lessons,” said Laker.

For Theunissen, who will be playing his 50th match for the Stormers on Saturday, the offload game is as part of the team as the blue and white on the team jersey.

“It is in our DNA and that is who we are,” said Theunissen. “We are not going to change it. Rather just be more decisive and see when it’s on or not.

“We want to play rugby for our supporters and the way we play rugby they enjoy. So we won’t take it away from the guys. We just have to make better decisions in certain areas of the field.”

Compared to Leinster, Glasgow Warriors and the Bulls, who occupy three of the top four spots on the competition's points table, the Stormers are well off the pace in the try-scoring stakes.

Now that they’ve been forced into play-off mode they don’t need to rack up tries, they simply need to unlock that potential when it really matters.