The Stormers management team are treading very carefully ahead of their season-defining Super 14 clash against the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday.

Coach Rassie Erasmus and skipper Jean de Villiers have been very clear in bringing the message across that they are expecting a very difficult game against the Lions this coming Saturday, and have stated that fact repeatedly to the media over the past week.

The result is of course of vital importance to the Stormers, who need five points from the match to be sure of advancing to the semifinals.

The Lions are currently at the foot of the points log, with one game remaining in their season, but their ability to upset the Stormers on Saturday is a real danger to the Capetonians, especially after the Chiefs were so comprehensively outplayed for 75 minutes at Ellis Park last week.

Lions resolve

Erasmus spoke to about the resolve of the Lions despite their poor results this year, and praised coach Eugene Eloff for keeping the team competitive.

"I've always said that you can see some teams, when they do badly, or they're fourteenth on the log — if they don't believe in their coach or don't believe in one another, they normally fall apart and [concede] fifty and sixty [points] somewhere along the line, especially in a long Super 14 season," said Erasmus.

"This team hasn't really done that. Although they are fourteenth on the log, you can see that they play for one another and they play with pride.

"They do the things that you can see their coach coached them. Sometimes it's tough when you're not doing well, to keep on doing those things, and one of them is certainly competing for the ball on the ground. They're doing that very well."

The Stormers coach also reflected on his first season in charge of the coastal franchise, and revealed that he did not think that his charges would have carried the team all the way to the brink of the semifinals, after their indifferent start to the Super 14 campaign.

"I'd be lying if I said there wasn't doubt [after the 0-22 loss to the Crusaders].

"Losses create doubt within a team, and then you start to doubt some players' abilities and your own abilities. That is a thing that not only happens here, it also happens from a school side to a club side.

"I think you need a lucky break in the competition to keep believing in one another. That's again why I want to give credit to the way the Lions have been playing, because they could easily have thrown everything out the window.

"I still believe it is in our hands [to reach the semifinals]. If we win with five points, and the Sharks win with five points, it is definitely still in our hands.

"So it's nice to say that, but in the same breath, that doesn't make it easier. It's still a helluva tough task."

Still learning

In their final Super 14 round-robin fixture last year, the Bulls famously needed a massive score against the Reds to advance to a home semifinal, and achieved it in the final Saturday fixture courtesy of a 92-3 win.

Legend has it that Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer wrote the number of points that were needed to achieve that feat on a white board in the Bulls changing room.

Erasmus related to that event, but said that his team were just focused on getting the victory they required.

"Heyneke [Meyer] is an experienced coach. He's come a long way with that specific squad. I think they [Bulls] were in their third year together — [Meyer was in his] seventh or eighth year, since 2001, coaching with the Bulls.

"I'm in my fifth month. So I think he knows what to get out of players. The Bulls have worked with him for really long.

"I'm still learning things about my players — they about me, and me about them. We wrote 'win' on the board," joked Erasmus.

"You know we just have to try and beat the Lions. It's gonna be a tough challenge playing over there. We're obviously going to try and score four tries, that's our purpose at the end.

"But the first challenge is to try and beat them."

Erasmus felt that there were so many possible permutations that could occur this coming weekend, that it was a waste of energy trying to predict the outcome.

He also pointed out though that he did consider the contingency plans for his team, and has made preparations for any eventuality.

"This week, we might have a contiki [private social meeting] after the game for the final time this season.

"We might hop on a plane the next day to go play in Sydney. We might go to Christchurch, we might fly to Wellington. We might come back home and play the semifinal at home. We might fly to Durban.

"You can think of all the logistics problems and stuff around that detracting your attention from preparing for the week. Stuff like that makes you think.

"There are so many different things that can happen. I've thought about all those different things, but I'm trying to put our energy into the facets we need to get right to win us the game," said the coach.

Come a long way

Win or lose, it is clear that the 2008 Stormers have re-ignited a real passion for rugby in the Western Cape, which has been evident by the large numbers that have been drawn to Newlands since the team's return from their overseas fixtures.

The immense home support has not gone unnoticed by Erasmus, who hailed the fans, stating that repaying their faith was one of the most important missions for his players.

"[The match against the Waratahs] was such a lovely game to play in front of 45000 people in that rain," he enthused.

"You can't give [the fans] a nice display in weather like that, but you can give them a gutsy display, an attitude willing to go all the way for the crowd. I think that's what we tried to give back to the guys on Saturday, because it was tough to play the game like that.

"For me the proudest thing is the way the guys are gutsing it out, because there have been a few set-backs, which wasn't minor - you know, losing Schalk Burger, losing JD [Moller], losing Tonderai [Chavhanga], losing Schalk Ferreira who was injured in the beginning, Corné Uys, not winning, getting yellow cards in the beginning that we thought we shouldn't get, losing close games against the Bulls and the Sharks.

"So for me, the thing I'm the proudest of is the guys sticking together and building a character in the team that can take us forward.

"Not so much the results, but the fact that the guys kept believing, and the fans kept believing. That's the thing we enjoy the most."

Winning at Ellis Park with a bonus point will surely repay a large chunk of that support the Stormers faithful have shown.

365