Stormers focus on skills and fitness ahead of Super Rugby tussles against New Zealand opposition

Knowing that this year’s Super Rugby schedule pits them against strong New Zealand opposition‚ Stormers coach Robbie Fleck is placing an emphasis on skills development and better fitness.

The Stormers started their pre-season late last year with Fleck challenging players to be more professional in their approach to training.

Lack of conditioning has been a problem for South African teams in all levels in comparison to their NZ counterparts‚ and part of the reason is the way Kiwi players approach training.

They are prepared to put in extra hours outside of formal practice times and the Stormers are looking to instil some of that behaviour in their own squad this season.

After returning from their festive season break‚ the Stormers went to the coastal town of Hermanus for a camp last week.

Former Blues skills coach Paul Feehy has formally started working with the group.

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“In November we set ourselves some new challenges and some new goals‚" Fleck told the media after the camp in Hermanus.

"We needed to make a few changes in our set-up and the way we approach things.

“Skills were a major focus for us‚ hence Paul Feeney joining us.

"He has had many sessions‚ where he upskilled the players - not only in catching and passing‚ but more so vision and decision-making‚ and communication.”

South African players in general appear to be falling further behind their NZ counterparts in several areas and the Stormers are determined to close that gap in 2017.

Last year the Stormers only played against SA‚ Australian‚ Argentinean and Japanese teams in the pool phase.

They comfortably qualified for the play-offs‚ but the first time they met a NZ team (the Chiefs)‚ in the last eight‚ they were thrashed 60-21 at Newlands.

It was a stark lesson and it highlighted the gulf in class that exists.

This year they will face all five NZ franchises in the pool phase.

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“Everything is in line to becoming a better team‚ we want to help the players become more natural in their skills and conditioning‚ that it is not hard work but that everything becomes second nature‚” Fleck said.

“We certainly feel that there are parts of our fitness that we can improve on. I don’t think it is a case of being running fit‚ it is about being a little bit more accurate in certain aspects of our fitness.

“Another major point of focus for us was our combat‚ we needed to physically prepare players for one-on-one situations and getting that hard edge back into our game.

“South African players are big and strong but need to be able to use their physicality a little bit smarter and be more comfortable in those dark spaces.

“From the players’ perspective we had to make some major changes‚ not just in the way we see the game‚ but the way we see ourselves and our professional approach.

“We had a really good off-season period where we worked hard for about six weeks and enforced some of those changes.”

- TMG Digital