‘No pressure, just another opportunity,’ says Stormers’ Stefan Ungerer
· Citizen
Stormers scrumhalf Stefan Ungerer insists that the team aren’t under any sort of pressure as they prepare to take on the Lions in their United Rugby Championship (URC) derby at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon.
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The Stormers head into the game off the back of two straight URC losses, home and away against the Sharks late last month.
That saw their stunning eight match unbeaten run come to an unfortunate end, while it has also seen them slip from the top of the URC log to third, four points behind second placed Leinster and eight behind leaders Glasgow Warriors, who they both have a game in hand on.
However, if they go down to the Lions this weekend they could slip further behind the front runners, and even be leapfrogged by Ulster and Cardiff below them, who are level on points, and only behind them on points difference.
Vitally important
It is thus a vitally important match for them to get back to winning ways, and to consolidate their place in the upper echelons of the URC log,
Ungerer however doesn’t believe that they are under any pressure, and that the team is quite content with where they are on the log, and that they are only focused on fixing the problems from their defeats to the Sharks.
“If you asked us at the start of the season whether we’d take a position where we’d lost only two of our first nine or 10 games, we would have taken it,” explained Ungerer.
“There’s no feeling of pressure. It’s more excitement about getting another opportunity to test ourselves and fix what hasn’t been good enough.
“It’s never easy going to Joburg. They (the Lions) play for 80 minutes and you can’t relax at any stage. We’ll need a full match performance. They’ve matured as a side and they’re playing good rugby.”
Problem areas
Ungerer said that the Stormers had been focusing on a number of problem areas over the past week of training and they would be looking to address them in the match.
“It’s about controlling the big moments. Earlier in the season we were calm in those moments. In the last two games we’ve maybe let teams in too easily, especially after scoring points,” said Ungerer.
“You have to treat the kick-off like a set-piece. We need to control the aerial battle, set our base well and execute good kicks to return pressure. At altitude, momentum is everything. That’s where the game will be won or lost.”
The teams could be set for a wet weather battle on the day, with the current forecast indicating rain, and after the Stormers experienced torrential conditions in a tight win over the Bulls at Loftus around the same time last year, a game Ungerer played in, he said they would be ready.
“Hopefully it won’t be as bad as it was at Loftus that day, I don’t think I have ever played in weather as hectic as that,” added Ungerer.
“But obviously it does help if you play in conditions which are similar to conditions you played in before and won. It gives you confidence.
“But obviously it could go either way, the Lions might have had a similar experience. If it is wet we will draw on that previous experience and put a lot into controlling tempo and territory.”