The Stormers enter the United Rugby Championship’s last block of four games before the playoffs, knowing that they have an excellent chance of finishing top of the table.
If they can hold their nerve and win their remaining games, they could well knock Glasgow Warriors off top spot, given that the Scotsmen have the tougher run-in, including next week’s visit to the Cape Town Stadium.
In fact, as soon as this Saturday, the Cape team could reclaim the No 1 position they held earlier in the tournament should the Lions do them a big favour by beating the Warriors at Ellis Park, and the Stormers get past tricky Connacht.
It is a weekend where, if the Stormers win, their top-four position can be strengthened by other results. For instance, in an Irish derby in Belfast on Friday night, third-placed Ulster host Leinster (fourth), so one top-four team will drop points there.
The Stormers’ aspirations of finishing top were on two fronts, boosted by their loss to Toulon in their Champions Cup round of 16 defeat in France. Firstly, the defeat now allows them to put all their eggs into the URC basket, without the “distraction” of an upcoming Champions Cup playoff away from home.
Secondly, they will have taken plenty of confidence out of that narrow defeat as they played their best rugby for some time, and against a leading French team.
After that performance, the Stormers will believe they have a good chance of winning both of their last URC away games — against Ulster and Cardiff. Last season, the Stormers were poor in their overseas games, but this year are unbeaten in Europe.
Some interesting facts that the Stormers can draw on ahead of the Connacht encounter — they have yet to lose to an overseas team in the competition; they have a 100 percent record against Irish teams this season (Leinster and Munster); they have won all of their last four matches against Connacht.
The Irishmen from Galway are ninth on the URC log, just a point behind the Bulls (eighth), so they have ambitions of making the playoffs. More so because they were knocked out of the Challenge Cup and need to do well in the URC to save their season.
And Connacht travel to Cape Town in excellent URC form — they have won five league games in a row for the first time since 2023. They haven’t won six league games in a row since 2016, the only time they’ve managed this streak in their history.
In the last two matches between Connacht and the Stormers, Connacht only lost by five and four points, respectively.
