Cape Town - Zebre may have been bottom dwellers last season with just a lone win in 18 games, but that doesn’t mean the Stormers just need to rock up for a bonus-point victory in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) clash in Parma (4pm kick-off).
The Italian outfit may have lost all three games so far this season, but nearly toppled Irish giants Leinster at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, where they lost 33-29.
Then they almost got the better of the Sharks, with the Durbanites holding on desperately in the second half for a 42-37 triumph.
Zebre were competitive against Munster in Cork, where they conceded 21 points in 25 minutes of the first half, but added five themselves in the second to go down 21-5.
“They are a decent team and have a new attack coach, Dave Williams, who used to be at the Sharks and went to Bath. So, it’s a South African guy coaching their attack. They did really well against Leinster … came close to the Sharks, and could’ve taken the Sharks. So, new players as well, so they are a good, well-coached team,” Stormers defence coach Norman Laker said from Italy on Wednesday.
“They are playing with a lot of confidence at the moment. They have added a few guys, like Richard Kriel (former Bulls fullback), the new flyhalf from Bristol (Tiff Eden) who can control the game really well – either with his kicking boot or how he passes the ball and puts guys into holes.
“They have also found a way to play rugby that suits them. And Dave Williams has helped them a lot in terms of ball-in-hand. It will be a tough game on Saturday, but it’s about focusing on us and fixing our errors from last weekend.”
The Stormers are unbeaten after two rounds, having seen off Connacht 38-15 and Edinburgh 34-18, although they were not at their best in either encounter.
Their biggest challenge will most likely come at the breakdown, where Zebre will look to disrupt them with former Lions openside flank MJ Pelser in an effort to stop the Cape side from building phases with ball-in-hand.
John Dobson’s team are also missing Springboks Joseph Dweba, Deon Fourie, Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe – who are all being rested – while new fullback Clayton Blommetjies is getting married this weekend and is not in Italy either.
But the Stormers beat Zebre 55-7 in Stellenbosch last season, and will hope that the likes of Damian Willemse, Herschel Jantjies, Salmaan Moerat, Marvin Orie and Evan Roos will lead the way in Parma, while Samoan centre Alapati Leiua may also see some action this weekend to ensure a better start to the tour compared to last season, where they lost to Benetton and Munster, drew with Edinburgh and beat the Dragons.
“From a defence point of view, there were a few things I thought we could’ve done better against Edinburgh … To get quicker and into a better position to make tackles, to slow the ball down a bit at times, to put them under more pressure,” Laker said.
“You need to adapt according to the referee on the day. I thought we did well on Saturday, when Frank Murphy was the referee.
“But it is tough away from home. You don’t want to let the referee come between you and the scoreboard, and you must just make sure you are on the right side of the referee on the day. Make sure you are as clean as possible, so that the 50-50s also go your way instead of their way.
“Last year was a great learning curve for us as management and the players, having played in Super Rugby for years.
“Coming to the north was slightly different – the way they refereed the game, the way the opposition teams play.
“You get tested by internationals every week, from different countries, which makes it quite exciting for us. Going into these three games, we will take our learnings from last year and take it into this year, so that we don’t make the same mistakes in the next three games.”
IOL Sport