CAPE TOWN - Stormers assistant coach Labeeb Levy says they want more commitment from their players on defence when they face Griquas in their Super Rugby Unlocked meeting on Saturday.
The Stormers will be on a mission to redeem themselves after a performance against the Bulls that head coach John Dobson rightfully described as “embarrassing” after the 39-6 beating.
The Stormers were totally outplayed at Loftus, and while the game was abandoned in the 64th minute, there was little chance that they would have come back given how poor they were throughout the match, only showing some promise in the first quarter.
Their defence was one of the big let-downs, but Levy said it’s not a system problem and that it can be fixed.
“There are aspects we’d like to improve on,” the skills coach and technical analyst said.
“We want more commitment from the players on defence.
“We’ll tweak certain aspects, but we want more commitment because that is a big issue.
“Our maul defence was also identified as an issue so we will look at that as well.
“Our work rate post tackle is also something to work on.
“I’ve chatted to the defence coach and he’s also keen to sort the defence out.
“I felt we were also a bit unlucky at times because sometimes we had two players tackling one player in the build-up to some of their tries and they tackled them around the body, but those players still managed to get the ball away.
“But the guys trust the system. It worked against international competition in Super Rugby.”
Levy explained that there are also other aspects they want to look at before they make the trip to Kimberley to face the unpredictable Griquas, while he also added that they will make some personnel changes for their fourth game.
“We’re also looking at our ball retention, especially close to the line. We have to get the players in a good mental state to go and play a very important game,” he said.
“Normally, if it was a tough loss you want to go fix it, but we also want to be mature in terms of the bigger picture, because after this game we’ve got the Cheetahs and Sharks ... not that Griquas won’t be a tough game, but we are looking at freshening up and getting some rotation going, so hopefully they can add to the energy that we’re planning on bringing this week and on Saturday.”
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