BY VOICE SPORTS TEAM
STORMERS wing Ben Loader has warned his manne that they must adjust quickly to the 4G indoor pitch at the Paris La Defense Arena in Paris against Racing 92 in the Champions Cup on Saturday night (10pm kickoff).
The Stormers are within reach of another knockout match in the Champions Cup. If they can beat Racing and collect five points, they should secure a place in the Round of 16.
A loss, though, could see them drop to the Challenge Cup playoffs or it can end their European dreams entirely - depending on other results.
And Loader says: “We won’t be going away from our identity, but we will have to adapt to the conditions.
“There will be some challenges. The bounce of the ball is different. We haven’t played in an indoor stadium yet. Part of our game model is to be able to change things on the fly and to adapt to what a team and their conditions ask of us.
“As an outside back, playing on a 4G pitch is sometimes nice because the game is so quick and you feel faster [when running]. Hopefully, it is another fast game like this past weekend [against Sale Sharks].”
After seven months on the sidelines, it took Loader mere minutes to slot back into the running rugby of the Stormers in the Champions Cup at the weekend.
He is hopeful of staying injury-free for the rest of the season to help the Kaapse span challenge in both competitions as they aim to reach the playoffs in Europe’s elite club competition and the United Rugby Championship.
Ex-Stormers Lee-Marvin Mazibuko and Hacjivah Dayimani’s Racing 92, meanwhile, are heel laaste on the standings in Pool 4, with the Stormers in fourth. They will be desperate for the win and could still sneak into the playoffs if they do so with a bonus point.