CAPE TOWN - Stormers assistant coach Paul Treu says they want all the work they’ve done during the pre-season to come together when they kick off their Super Rugby campaign against the Jaguares at Newlands on Saturday (3.05pm kickoff).
The Stormers will host the Argentines before travelling to Sydney to face the Waratahs, followed by matches against the Super Rugby champions, the Crusaders, and the Highlanders the following weeks.
At a press conference at the team’s training base in Bellville on Monday, Treu - who is in charge of all structured attack and defence - said that attacking play was a big focus in their preparations, and that they would like to see the attacking and defensive work they’ve put on show this weekend.
“We respect the Jaguares as a team, but I think going into this first game the focus is going to be on ourselves,” Treu said.
“I think we’ve done a lot in pre-season in terms of our attacking play and how we want to attack and how we want to defend. So we want everything to come together in this game.
“We’ve worked hard in the pre-season to make sure that we’re up to speed and to get everybody up to speed, especially the Boks who came into the system again.”
Treu, who was previously in charge of the Stormers’ defence, also explained the team's new coaching structure, which will see him responsible for their structured attack and defensive plays, while Paul Feeney, who joined the Cape side as attack and skills coach, will oversee all unstructured attack and defensive play.
“This season I will be doing the structured attack, which will be the first three phases from set-piece, and structured defence, which will be the first phase from set-piece,” Treu explained.
The former Blitzbok coach also said that his experience in coaching defensive systems could aid him in his new role.
“Paul Feeney does all the attack that goes beyond three phases from a scrum or lineout and all defence that goes beyond one phase,” Treu said.
“Our attack can’t come off if we don’t have a strong set-piece, so that’s definitely a focus for us once again this year.
“Now that I’m doing both (attack and defence) I can reverse the roles because we need to stop their attacking plays and we want to exploit their defensive set-ups.”
Treu added that the defensive effort they produced against the Chiefs in last year’s quarter-final is definitely a goal this season again, and he was confident that the new coaching system will be beneficial to the team.
“The way we finished last year against the Chiefs is more or less where we want to go with our defence,” Treu said.
“So I definitely think it’s something that’s going to benefit the team. When we discussed these ideas it was to get better collaboration between the coaches and for us to work as one unit.”