Stormers are looking forward to seeing the sun in Scotland

The wet weather that has blown in over Cape Town at the start of what looks like it is going to be a cold and damp week has given the Stormers a weird reason to feel pleased to be heading to Glasgow for Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) quarterfinal.

The Stormers trained in the rain on Monday before Tuesday’s departure of the bulk of the squad for Glasgow via Doha, prompting their ace loose-forward Evan Roos to comment that he was looking forward to seeing the sun that should be greeting the side at the end of their journey.

The Stormers play the Glasgow Warriors at the Scotstoun in the last game of the quarterfinal round at 8.35pm SA time on Saturday.

“It is a bit weird, we really wanted to be playing at home and obviously that is what we’d prefer but we are going overseas and at least it should be dry there which is what we like,” Roos said.

“It will be a good occasion, playing at the Scotstoun, and there should be proper conditions conducive to a good game.”

Both teams do enjoy playing a running offload style of rugby, and with summer having arrived in Scotland, among other things it will still be light for most of the game and there’s little chance of the rain that can affect at other stages of the season, both protagonists should get a chance to play to their main strengths.

In that sense, it could be the most entertaining of the four quarterfinals.

It isn’t going to be a perfect build-up for the Stormers as the uncertainty about who would be playing where in this round of the competition meant that though the Stormers worked hard on logistical planning, some of their players and staff had to fly out on Monday, while others will be heading out only on Wednesday.

“It is challenging and you can imagine what it does to the training week but we do have the main squad still here and flying out on Tuesday afternoon, and we are following pretty much the pattern of the last two tours so we are used to it,” Dobson said.

Bullish

The Stormers coach remains as bullish about his team’s chances in Glasgow as he was immediately after the win over the Lions that brought the league season to an end at the weekend, and like Roos he is looking forward to the good conditions that summer in Scotland should present to his team.

“We are looking forward to going there at this time of the year, we know the Scotstoun should be quite different in June to what it is in November and January, which is when we have played them before,” the Stormers mentor said.

“It is a fair match up this one, it is fourth against fifth, and as those positions will indicate, we are two quite evenly matched teams.

“We have unfinished business up there. We have had two really tough games there where things haven’t gone our way. Glasgow play a really nice style of rugby. But we are well prepared for it.”

The good news for Stormers fans is that there were no injuries after the Lions game and Warrick Gelant, who was kept out of the selection because of a niggling injury, will leave with the team and is ready to play.

SuperSport.com