André-Hugo Venter says the Stormers are every bit as desperate as Cardiff ahead of Friday night’s Vodacom URC showdown at the Arms Park.
While Cardiff need a win to secure their place in the playoffs, the Stormers are already assured of a home quarter-final as they can’t finish lower than fourth.
But Venter says the Cape side wants to end in the top two, so are just as motivated as their hosts for a positive result in their last match of the regular season.
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“If you go through after the quarter-finals, you want to play as many games [semi-final and final] at home as possible,” he said.
“That means we need to walk away with a win this weekend. Our desperation will be right up there with them,” he added.
“I don’t think they’ll be more desperate than us.”
The Stormers were left frustrated after last week’s 38-38 draw against Ulster and Venter admitted the mood in camp reflected that disappointment.
“Our outlook after the match felt like a loss.”
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One of the Stormers’ big strengths of the current campaign has been their dominant scrum. The Cape side has won a whopping 56 scrum penalties in the competition so far – the highest of any team. But the Stormers fear that weapon will be neutralised by the 4G artificial surface at Arms Park.
At scrum time, the pack’s boot studs can’t dig into the surface the way it would on turf so there will need to be a compromise. Venter has made his feelings around 4G surfaces known.
“I don’t enjoy the 4G pitches at all,” Venter said. “In saying that, they can’t be used as an excuse. So we need to be careful this week in terms of our load.”
Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
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