Cape Town - The driving maul has become a little bit of a concern for the Stormers over the last two weekends, especially the defence of it, and it's an aspect of their play they want to sharpen up on ahead of the United Rugby Championship (URC) knockout phase.
On Friday in Stellenbosch, the defending URC champions will face Benetton (kick-off 6.30pm) in their final round-robin match and it provides them the perfect opportunity to get their rolling maul in perfect shape.
Exeter Chiefs in the Champions Cup, and Munster this past weekend in the URC, exploited the Stormers' failure to stop mauls, using it as an effective weapon to strike.
Usually the Cape side’s maul defence is one they pride themselves on, but lately they've been struggling to stop good mauling teams. Benetton is another one of those sides who can use their driving maul to overpower their opponents and the Stormers will be cautious about that in the Danie Craven Stadium.
The Stormers coaches admitted that they may have neglected to focus on their maul details these last few weeks due to their hectic travel schedule that saw them train only a couple of days in between matches.
"It was an area that we were not happy with in both matches," assistant coach Dawie Snyman said.
"There will be a focus on it during our forwards' sessions. We pride ourselves in the fact that we do not concede tries in that manner. So we will definitely work on it.
"If you have a short week (of training) due to travel, there are certain things you focus on and prepare for the specific match. If you have one session, you can't do everything.
"So it is maybe an area that we have neglected the last month and Saturday it showed some cracks. But it is luckily something we can fix.”
According to Snyman, it's an area they pride themselves in, and they want to get the high standards back as soon as possible.”
They will have to regain their ascendency in the maul defending this Friday already as their next encounter will be the quarter-final of the URC. If the Stormers struggle for a third weekend in a row it will open the door for other sides to continue exploiting the cracks.
The Cape side will still be without fetcher Deon Fourie, although they performed way better at the breakdown against Munster. Benetton will be another tough side, especially because they like playing off quick possession.
So the loose trio composition will be an important selection for Stormers coach John Dobson and his management.
@Leighton_K
IOL Sport