If the Lions could go from being outside Super Rugby to semi-finalists playing flowing rugby, so can the Stormers, says coach Robbie Fleck.
It was a nightmare that didn’t want to stop at Newlands on Saturday night as Fleck watched his team being destroyed by a slick Chiefs outfit 60-21 in the quarter-final, with the Kiwis scoring eight tries to three.
While Dave Rennie’s Chiefs produced an exemplary display of how rugby should be played, the Stormers are determined to reach the same level in the next few years, and the key aspect in that regard is honing their attacking game.
The way the Chiefs were able to manipulate a Stormers defence that had conceded the joint-least tries in the league stages this year – although they didn’t face the New Zealand teams – was a wonderful lesson in how to play attacking rugby.
Fleck feels that his team have made some strides in that regard as the Stormers tried to make better use of the ball compared to the defence-orientated game plan previously. But the pace, skill and physicality of the Chiefs overwhelmed a Cape side that Fleck acknowledged suffered from having not faced any New Zealand team in the conferences.
The Stormers’ next move to grow the team will be to send Fleck – who is still the interim coach – for a “meeting” with England coach Eddie Jones, who promised to help out the Cape team after dropping them following a week in charge at Newlands last year.
“I still have to knuckle my position down with the director of rugby (Gert Smal) and CEO (Paul Zacks). The way I’d like to see it is that I will sort of go on some work experience – I’d like to visit Eddie overseas and several other coaches, and try to close that gap, so to speak,” Fleck said after the Chiefs game.
“For me, it’s all about trying to get as much information and learn as much as I can before the next campaign. It’s just about getting our players over this one, and looking forward to that challenge next year.”
It is believed that Fleck may also visit Ireland coach Joe Schmidt in the next few months, but that will be finalised over the next few weeks.
Fleck will also discuss the player resources with Smal for the 2017 seasonThe coach lamented the absence of attacking stalwarts such as captain Juan de Jongh, fullback Cheslin Kolbe and wing Dillyn Leyds to the Springbok Sevens and injury this season, while flyhalves Robert du Preez, Kurt Coleman and Jean-Luc du Plessis missed portions of the season as well.
Schalk Burger and Vincent Koch are joining Saracens in England, with scrumhalf Nic Groom moving to Northampton Saints. Lock Jean Kleyn has also signed for Munster in Ireland, while another scrumhalf in Louis Schreuder is joining Kubota Spears in Japan.
It has also been reported that the Stormers have re-signed former No 9 Dewaldt Duvenage from French club Perpignan, but the franchise will confirm all player movements in the next few weeks.
But despite yet another Super Rugby campaign grinding to a halt, Fleck is optimistic that the Stormers can catch up to the New Zealand teams next year. “The Chiefs just blew us away in that first half, and the tempo that they played at just killed us. It’s a taste of what’s going to come next year, for some of our young guys. Now they know what it’s like and what we have to do,” the former Springbok centre said.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’ve still got to get to grips with the intensity that they play at. But I think we can catch up. The Lions have proved it and what we’ve started this year, we would like to continue into next year. But they were just way too good for us. We will look at it this week and make plans for next year.”
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