IF there is a Super Rugby franchise that know a quarter-final berth is not worth celebrating, it’s the Stormers. In fact, their coach Robbie Fleck has already stated that their goals for this year are greater than just a play-off spot.
The Stormers will be hosting another Super Rugby play-off match next weekend after clinching the African Conference 1 title with a match to spare. But the Cape franchise’s coach knows they don’t have a great record in once-off affairs.
Last year they were blown off the park by a rampant Brumbies side, who pulverised the home team at the breakdown. They also lost in the semi-finals against the Crusaders in 2011 and the Sharks in 2012 when they were favourites and playing in front of their home crowd.
In 2004, the Stormers went down to the Crusaders in the semis in Christchurch, while the ‘Men in Black’, as the Cape side were called in 1999, lost to the Highlanders in the last four after one of their greatest campaigns in the competition was derailed by a strike shortly before kick-off.
The only time the Stormers managed to get into the showpiece match was in 2010. They beat the Waratahs in a semi-final at Newlands, but went down to the Bulls in Soweto that year.
Fleck was there for almost all those disappointments, both as a player and a coach. He knows that heartache. And it’s something that he doesn’t want to experience again this year.
“I’m chuffed with what we have achieved so far. But we sat down as a group and said that a quarter-final is not enough. Yes, it’s a goal and we have achieved that. But certainly we don’t want to stop there,” Fleck said.
“We said right at the beginning that the Stormers are renowned for making semi-finals and quarter-finals ... we as a group are looking to create our own legacy and we are looking to tick certain boxes.
“We are not there yet, certainly we are a work in progress, but the good thing about this team is that everything we identify in the week, we work on it and we get better. And that makes us dangerous.”
It’s difficult to judge the magnitude of their quarter-final achievement this season, especially because of this this new format.
But, like Fleck said, the job is not done yet. - The Star