It will be a brutal physical battle up front when the DHL Stormers lock horns with French heavyweights Toulon in an Investec Champions Cup showdown on Gqeberha on Saturday, assistant coach Rito Hlungwani said.
The high-riding French team pack plenty of muscle up front and Hlungwani said the Stormers must fight fire with fire at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (kickoff 5.15pm).
After consecutive defeats against the Glasgow Warriors and the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship, the Stormers are under pressure to deliver a much-needed win.
“Toulon are a club that carry a lot of history and they have a very big pack,” Hlungwani said.
“They are also very physical, so it’s going to be a tough and intense battle this week.
“We’ll probably have our ways of trying to exploit their size and try to fight fire with fire in terms of their physicality.
“We’ve done our homework and feel we’re heading in the right direction in terms of our plan and we just have to execute it come Saturday.
“French teams will always have a massive lock in their team.
“If you think of Will Skelton at La Rochelle, a lock who doesn’t jump, but his job is to destroy any maul and he offers a lot of power in the scrum.
He is a proper ball-carrier.
“The teams are very similar and it’s going to be a massive set-piece battle which we’ll be ready for.”
After losing to another French team, La Rochelle, in the 2023-24 round of 16, Hlungwani said, the Stormers had learnt lessons which would help them prepare for the Toulon showdown.
“Because of the similarities between these French sides, it sort of gives us not an edge, but a step forward in our preparation,” he said.
“It is easy to look back and see how we prepared for La Rochelle and how we planned to play a big pack like that.”
Hlungwani said veteran prop Ali Vermaak had been a vital cog in the Stormers machine when they lost narrowly to the Sharks in a United Rugby Championship clash last week.
“Ali was quite powerful on the left of the scrum,” he said.
“From a coaches’ point of view, we’re quite happy with that picture and how Ali performed.
“He hasn’t played in a very long time, and we thought he looked in good shape.
“Playing against two Springboks, he operated well.
“We thought Joseph Dweba was good right in the middle, as was Neethling Fouche.
“They also got power from the back five.
“We are really looking at our processes and looking at what we’re doing well and what needs improving so we can move to the next level.”
The Stormers have a few injury headaches to mull over before they name their team on Friday.
Injuries to skipper Dan du Plessis and star player Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu could force the Stormers into handing a debut to promising centre Jonathan Roche.
Hlungwani said Feinberg-Mngomezulu would miss the Toulon clash after suffering a head injury against the Sharks on Saturday.
“I think the other concern would be skipper Dan du Plessis,” he said.
“He limped off towards the end of the Sharks game.
“We are still waiting for feedback, but those two at the moment are probably doubtful.”
Tickets for the Gqeberha clash range in price from R60 to R300.
They are available from Webtickets online, Pick n Pay, Boxer Stores and from the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium ticket office.
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