Stormers eighth man Evan Roos says the Cape Town team will be much tighter on defence when they face Benetton on the weekend than they were last time out against Connacht
The Stormers were very lucky to emerge from the game against the Irish outfit with all five points, but Roos said that if they repeated the sort of defending they showed against Connacht that it would be a disaster against the Italian outfit.
Speaking to the media ahead of Saturday’s game, Roos said: “We as the players said the defence wasn’t good enough. I want to say we were lucky to win.
“I think we did work hard, but we weren’t clinical enough in terms of defence, so that was the point of this week. We sorted out all the small things, and we will have full confidence going into this match against Benetton,” he said.
He added that the Cape side were expecting a fierce fight from Benetton, who are currently fifth on the URC table, three places ahead of the Stormers. “The Italians are a very passionate people, very proud of their rugby and their country, so I feel it will be a physical match.
“There are quality players who work hard, so that’s the type of things we live for – good rugby matches, and top rugby matches over the weekend. It’s another great opportunity to show what we can do,” he said.
Assistant coach Rito Hlungwani added: “We are in good spirits, and we want to continue preparing so we can face Benetton with full confidence.
“I am sure you would have seen, they put the Lions’ line-out under pressure. They contest everywhere on the field. They contest on their five, they contest on your five. They like putting a lot of pressure on the set-piece,” he said.
Kick off is at 18:15.
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