The math surrounding Friday’s Currie Cup showdown at Emirates Airline Park points to a high-stakes, winner-takes-all scenario, but the DHL Stormers XXIII coaching staff are refusing to look past the immediate 80 minutes.
Speaking at this afternoon’s press conference ahead of their trip to Johannesburg, defence coach Pine Pienaar made it clear that while fans and pundits are obsessing over semi-final calculations and bonus points, the team’s only focus is internal execution.
“At the back end of the competition we need to be successful in our processes and results; we got the result [against the Bulls], but that currently means nothing for us,” Pienaar said.
Following their resounding 50-26 bonus-point victory over the Vodacom Bulls XV at Loftus Versfeld, the Cape side has been handed a remarkably tight window to prepare for another gruelling away trip up north.
“We have a short turnaround time with two days of preparation before getting onto an aeroplane on Thursday for a tough assignment at Ellis Park against a quality Lions team,” Pienaar explained.
Even though every single log point is critical in a congested play-off race, Pienaar insisted that hunting for a four-try bonus point has not even been brought up in team meetings.
“For us it’s about getting the process right. There hasn’t been talk about getting the four-try bonus point,” Pienaar said. “We know we’re up against a quality Lions team – the last few years have been a reflection of what they are currently doing. They’ve been in the last two Currie Cup Finals, so we know it will be a tough task for us. It’s more about us focusing on the result rather than [scoring] four tries and how we can be better.”
While the 50 points scored against the Bulls made headlines, the defence coach was quick to point out that the performance was far from flawless. The short week has been entirely dedicated to plugging the defensive leaks and tightening up tactical discipline.
“There were a couple of areas against the Bulls which we weren’t too happy about, and that was the focus for us the last two days,” Pienaar admitted. “We are just process-driven and ensuring we put up a good performance from our side, and the result will look after itself.”