'Price' Stormers are risking to protect damaged pitch for URC final

Friday’s Currie Cup match between Western Province and Pumas will not take place at the Cape Town Stadium as the pitch is being preserved for the Stormers’ URC final on May 27. The WP’s Currie Cup against the Pumas will instead take place at Athlone Stadium on Friday at 17:00 SA time.

The news means the Cape Town surface has been given additional time to recover for the URC grand final between the Stormers and Munster the following weekend.

The Cape Town Stadium turf has been a big issue, especially after the gruelling URC quarter-final and semi-final in the last two weeks, activity that followed the April 29 Province versus Bulls Currie Cup game at the same ground.

During the URC semi-final against Connacht last Saturday, the forwards really struggled with the scrums and maul as the turf lifted under the pressure of the two packs. Fortunately for the Stormers, the pitch will be safeguarded for two weeks which will give the Stormers’ pack a perfect platform to dominate the scrums and rolling mauls.

“The field preservation is important,” Stormers coach John Dobson said when asked if his Currie Cup side will play at the stadium this Friday. Stormers prop and captain Steven Kitshoff said it’s not the easiest field to scrum on.

“It takes a lot of time and effort to start building a good momentum at the scrums. There are going to be a lot of static scrums when it comes to the final, but we will work hard to make sure we get some go forward when it comes to scrum time.”

Similar to the turf, Dobson also revealed that players who are pencilled to feature in the URC final will not play in Friday’s Currie Cup fixture. The WP secured a 25-21 win over the Griffons last week and boosted their chances of a playoff spot. They are currently fourth on the log with four rounds left to go before knockouts.

“All our coaches are working hard on the Currie Cup. It was a full day of training. It’s just going to be too disruptive to risk anybody on Friday who will definitely play in the URC final,” Dobson said.

“The fact that we can rest a bit now, and have a full training week next week, it’s a big thing for us. The price of winning the URC final to losing a potential WP home semi-final is the price to pay.”