Ruben van Heerden says the Stormers are ready for a lineout battle on Saturday, as coach Norman Laker puts Connacht stars Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen on notice.
The Stormers, in 10th on the Vodacom URC standings, return from a two-week break needing to bank points in their four-match run at Cape Town Stadium to secure a playoff spot.
John Dobson’s men start the stretch against a Connacht side currently also out of the top eight but capable of upsetting sides, as shown in their EPCR Challenge Cup run.
“Connacht has a great lineout, I think they’ve been maybe in the top three lineouts in the last three years. I think if you look at the URC statistics at this stage, they’ve got the number one lineout in the competition. But we are on their heels at number two,” said Van Heerden, who is set to make his 50th appearance for the Stormers on Saturday.
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“There’s this silly narrative, I don’t know why, that our lineouts are inconsistent, but statistically, we’ve got the second-best lineout in the competition. We’re looking forward to the challenge.
“We know Connacht have an efficient lineout. We’re just going to stick to our guns and try to do what we can do to the best of our abilities,” the lock added. “Much respect to Connacht – they do a lot of things well – but so do we. It’s going to be a good battle.”
Connacht will also lean on the influence of centre Aki and winger Hansen, who bring international quality to the visitors’ attack. Aki was one of Ireland’s standout performers during their 2024 Six Nations Grand Slam campaign and at the 2023 World Cup, while Hansen is a dynamic threat in the wide channels.
“Both are quality players and have played a fair amount of matches for Ireland, so we respect them as players,” said defence guru Laker. “But we’ve played enough against Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen to know what we can do to deal with their strengths, and also their weaknesses.”
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Stormers midfielder Dan du Plessis, who has matched up well against Aki in the past, is expected to feature prominently in this week’s contest.
“When you’re playing against quality players, you’re always going to lift yourself, because you want to prove you’re actually better than the guy you’re playing against,” Laker added.
“Especially a guy that has played quite a lot of Test matches for Ireland, won a few Grand Slams and played for the British & Irish Lions. It’ll be a nice challenge for Dan, but he has also played against Bundee Aki a few times, and did extremely well.
“I don’t think Dan will do anything different from previous games because he is quite a competitive oke.”
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
