Cape Town - A lot has been made of the revolution in Scottish rugby since Gregor Townsend became the national coach, with the emphasis on attacking rugby.
That approach is supposed to filter through to their two regional sides in the United Rugby Championship (URC), Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh as well.
But while the latter have scored 47 tries and are in seventh position on the log this season – the jointfourth-most touchdowns – Glasgow have crossed the whitewash just 39 times.
In contrast, their opponents in Friday’s clash at the Cape Town Stadium (6.30pm kick-off), the Stormers, have a try tally of 49 – the third-highest behind Leinster (65) and Munster (56).
Glasgow also have a relatively low positive points-difference margin of 87, with the Stormers on 116.
So, that explains the high stakes involved in Friday’s clash, as the Capetonians are chasing a home play-off and are currently fifth on 47 points, with the Scottish outfit third on 50.
But that won’t deter John Dobson’s team from adopting their positive attacking approach against the Warriors, despite the fact that they went into their shells in the 19-17 victory over the Bulls a few weeks ago.
“If we are going to spend time thinking about the occasion and what it means if we win or lose
… I don’t think we want to be in a situation where the occasion determines how we approach the game,” outside centre Ruhan Nel said yesterday.
“We will approach it the same as we do every game. We have a plan in place, and create opportunities in terms of being a running team or looking for kick-space.
“Once we think about winning or losing, we will become conservative – and that’s exactly the kind of mindset we are trying to move away from … trying to over-think or think ourselves into a box because we are scared to make mistakes. We don’t think like that.”
Stormers defence coach Norman Laker stated that star fullback Warrick Gelant is available for selection again after sitting out the Bulls game with a thumb problem, while lock Salmaan Moerat and flank Ernst van Rhyn are also training again after long-term injuries.
Gelant’s return would bolster a backline that probably lacked that cutting edge with ball-in-hand against the Bulls.
“I don’t think we really want to go away from that style of rugby. That’s what we’re good at, our team ID. We strive to play attractive rugby, and if we could’ve played like that against the Bulls, I’m sure we would’ve,” Nel said.
“But the nature of the game didn’t really allow us to throw the ball around a bit. It was almost like we and the Bulls had a bit of a conservative mindset.
“But this weekend, the coaches are doing an exceptional job of allowing us to play what we see.
“With guys like Warrick, Manie (Libbok), Damian (Willemse) from the back, these are guys that are really programmed to see opportunities for run-space. That’s what makes them so good – that’s part of their natural ability. So, we don’t want to put them in a cage or limit them. We want to exploit that.”
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