The United Rugby Championship (URC) regular season ended with a sting for the Stormers, but the silver lining is massive: playoff rugby is officially coming back to Cape Town!
Despite a frustrating 22-16 away loss to Cardiff in their final round-robin match, the Stormers managed to secure a third-place finish on the overall log. This guarantees them vital home-ground advantage for their blockbuster knockout rematch against the exact same Welsh outfit next Saturday.
Coach Dobson: “We Need to Regroup Quickly”
Reflecting on the recent defeat, Stormers head coach John Dobson didn’t hold back, demanding a massive lift in intensity from his squad before they run out at the DHL Stadium.
“We’re going to have to regroup quickly. We’re a very bruised team who were beaten by the better team on the night, and we’ll have to do much better than this in the quarter-final.
We give Cardiff all the credit they deserve… but I’m sorry that their desperation meant more to them than our chance to host a series of playoffs in Cape Town.” — John Dobson, Stormers Head Coach
Note: With a week off due to the EPCR finals, both squads have extra time to sharpen up, though several Cape stars will first head off to the Springbok alignment camp.
The Full URC Quarter-Finals Schedule
Here is how the entire playoff weekend looks (all times SA Time):
Friday, 29 May
- QF1: Glasgow Warriors vs. Connacht
- Venue: Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow
- Kick-off: 20:45
Saturday, 30 May
- QF4: Bulls vs. Munster
- Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
- Kick-off: 13:00
- QF3: Stormers vs. Cardiff
- Venue: DHL Stadium, Cape Town
- Kick-off: 15:30
- QF2: Leinster vs. Lions
- Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
- Kick-off: 21:00
