Stormers to fight Toulon 'fire with fire'

12/03/2024 05:30 AM

Assistant coach Rito Hlungwani said the DHL Stormers will be ready for the physical onslaught from French giants Toulon when the teams clash in Gqeberha on Saturday.

The Stormers face a daunting task in their 2024-25 Champions Cup opener at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, and Hlungwani emphasises the need for physicality and tactical precision against the three-time European champions.

"They're a club that carries a lot of history; a very big pack, very physical, so it's going to be a very tough and intense battle this week," he told reporters on Monday. "We'll probably have our ways of trying to exploit their size and try to fight fire with fire in terms of their physicality.

"We've done our homework and feel we're heading in the right direction in terms of our plan and we just have to execute it come Saturday."

Toulon's imposing pack mirrors that of other top French clubs, a challenge the Stormers know well from their encounters with La Rochelle last season.

Reflecting on the similarities, Hlungwani said, "Those teams will always have a massive lock in their team; if you think of [Will] Skelton at La Rochelle, a lock who doesn't jump but his job is to destroy any maul, and offers a lot of power in the scrum. A proper ball-carrier.

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"The teams are very similar, and it's going to be a massive set-piece battle which we'll be ready for."

Having narrowly lost to La Rochelle in the 2023-24 round of 16, Hlungwani believes the lessons from last season's campaign provide a foundation for preparation.

"Because of the similarities between these French sides, it sort of gives us not an edge, but a step forward in our preparation; it's easy to look back and see how we prepared for La Rochelle and how we planned to play a big pack like that," he said.

The Stormers are focused on building from last week's Vodacom URC coastal derby loss to the Sharks, with Hlungwani commending veteran prop Ali Vermaak's impactful return.

"Ali was quite powerful on the left [of the scrum]… from a coaches' point of view we're quite happy with that picture and how Ali performed," he added.

"He hasn't played in a very long time, and we thought he looked in good shape. Playing against two Springboks, he operated well. We thought Joseph [Dweba] was good right in the middle, Neethling [Fouche] as well, and the power they got from the back five.

"We're really looking at our processes – what we're doing well, what needs improving… to take us to the next level."

Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images

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