Stormers assistant coach Norman Laker says their Super Rugby opener against the Hurricanes will be a good indicator of their pre-season progress.
The Stormers had a bit of a mixed bag in terms of their pre-season results, but they’ll know not to give too much mind to that as firstly, they experimented and made use of a big squad for their warm-ups, and secondly, well, it’s pre-season results.
And while the defence coach added that they’d have liked to cover everything during their pre-season prep, he’s happy with what they managed so far.
“It’s tough, we’d have liked to have a look at everything, but so far it’s been good, we’ve been training really hard and the pre-season has been going quite well, so I’m pleased with how things are going,” Laker said.
“It’s a nice challenge for us as a team to see where we are at the moment.
“One positive is they don’t really know what we’re going to do and we don’t know a lot about them with the change of coaching, but we’re focusing on ourselves to make sure we’re best prepared.”
Getting the season started against Kiwi opposition can be interpreted a number of ways, but the Stormers can certainly see it as a positive - a proper challenge right at the start to highlight their work-ons and strengths.
Despite their 10th-place finish, the Stormers secured a couple of attractive results last year - in the form of a 19-all draw against the Crusaders at Newlands and a 34-22 victory over the Highlanders.
Laker says these results can only be good for team’s confidence reserves as they gear up for the Canes.
“We will take confidence out of those games, especially at home.”