This week, we welcome the current BKT United Rugby Championship champions, the DHL Stormers, on their first visit to Swansea.com Stadium.
Last week, we were outclassed by the Glasgow Warriors. We were plucky, we had effort, and we kept working hard, but in the end we got outclassed in certain areas and we understand that. We’ve drawn a line under since and understand that we need to make sure that we perform well, and finish on the right side of the score line. If we can do that against this champion team, the same team that has won fourteen in a row, it will be a real feather in our cap.
Looking back at Glasgow from an individual player point of view, I thought Morgan Morris played exceptionally well, he carried the ball really well. Rhys Davies stood up from a physical collision point of view, which is awesome. We've got high hopes for both of these players going forward.
As a team, the thing which pleased us the most was that despite being outgunned, we stuck to the principles we talked about and our intent was good. Even though we were on the wrong end of the score line, the behaviours that we're displaying is what we need to treasure.
In round five of the URC, the reigning champions travel to Swansea from Cape Town, South Africa for the first time.
I’m on record of wanting to test our group, whether it be young players or international players, against the best. Having the top South African teams in the competition means everyone needs to get better, and this is a benchmarking exercise for progress. And they’ve got to lose some time.
If we want to be successful against the Stormers, we need to defend well, against the Stormers you have to defend well. We did this really well against Glasgow and took our opportunities when they presented themselves. This week it's a different type of challenge, but the same challenge, we’re going against a team that's going to be very positive, so defensively it is going to be a massive test.
Thank you for your continued support.
Toby Booth
Head Coach