Stormers must stay switched on against Cardiff, warns Venter

Staying switched on and maintaining discipline will be crucial for the Stormers when they face a desperate Cardiff outfit in a United Rugby Championship clash in Wales on Friday, hooker Andre-Hugo Venter says.

After being let down by a lack of concentration when they were held to a 38-38 draw by Ulster last week, Venter says the Stormers are wary of a Cardiff side hunting for a playoff berth.

Though the Stormers have already clinched a top 8 finish, Venter said there will be no complacency in the ranks of the Cape side. “I think for us going into this weekend is the discipline and the decision-making and basically not playing against ourselves in some scenarios,” he said.

“I think it’s understanding what opposition see that we might have done wrong over the past few weekends, and that’s something they’ll try and exploit. So understanding that and finding our weaknesses before the other teams can is going to be massive for us leading up to the playoffs as well.

“The look after the match [against Ulster], it feels like a loss. I think our desperation is going to be right up there with Ulster’s.

“Earlier in the game, from a scrum, they also took a tap quickly and we were a bit switched off. Looking back at the game, that was definitely their plan: trying to catch us off guard.”

Our match review was brutal; we learnt a few lessons against Ulster. You are constantly learning and improving yourself, but last Friday wasn’t the best way to learn. We did stuff we normally didn’t do, and that was a good lesson heading into the playoffs
— Norman Laker, Stormers’ assistant coach

Stormers’ assistant coach Norman Laker said his team are expecting a high-tempo game against Cardiff.

“They’re a ball-in-hand team, very similar to Ulster. They’re a well-coached team, and this weekend we must be spot on,” he said.

Laker said the Stormers needed to step up their defensive work after they leaked six tries against Ulster.

“Our match review was brutal; we learnt a few lessons against Ulster. You are constantly learning and improving yourself, but last Friday wasn’t the best way to learn. We did stuff we normally didn’t do, and that was a good lesson heading into the playoffs.

“The tries scored by Ulster against us were too much, so there are not a lot of positives. Ball in hand we looked dangerous, and the character of the guys who kept fighting until the end was a positive.

“But we should have been better, especially on defence. I don’t think we can pick out a department to point blame at.

“As a collective we need to be better with our discipline in all departments — discipline with ball in hand and on defence — so as a collective we need to make sure we are on top of our game each week.”

Head coach John Dobson said there was a mixture of frustration and relief in the Stormers camp after they escaped with a last gasp against Ulster.

In a dramatic finale, referee Andrea Piardi ruled that Ulster scrumhalf Nathan Doak had made shoulder-to-head contact with Leolin Zas as the winger attempted to get over in the corner.

“It’s probably a mixture of frustration that we didn’t get five points, because I thought at times our dominance was pretty imperious,” Dobson said.

“But in the end we’re probably lucky to get the three points.”