Andy Friend says Connacht won’t be lulled into a false sense of security by the injury-enforced absence of Deon Fourie and Marvin Orie from the DHL Stormers lineup on Saturday.
The Stormers will be without two valued veterans as Fourie and Orie were absent from the matchday-23 to face Connacht in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship semi-final in Cape Town.
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However, speaking after naming an unchanged matchday-23, Connacht director of rugby Friend said he still expects a brutal challenge from the defending champions.
“We wont fall into that trap thinking it will be easy,” said Friend. “They are a quality rugby side and John [Dobson] is a quality coach.
“Ideally want your best players out there. But if your best players can’t get out there, then there is always someone who has been waiting for their opportunity.
“We are under no illusion after seeing that team that it will still be a good contest and we will have to be at our best. It’s disappointing that Deon wont be there. The best players want to be on the biggest stage. So I am disappointed for him that he is not there. For us, it doesn’t change anything.”
Friend said a focus for the visitors will be on ensuring that the Stormers don’t capitalise on any of their errors during Saturday’s clash.
“They’re a team whose results and stats will tell you that if you are loose against them and give them opportunities, they have the x-factor players that are hard to stop. That will happen tomorrow – there will be errors, we will turn the ball over and potentially kick poorly, and they will do the same. It’s just about minimising those and when it happens how we react and stem the bleed.
“We know it wont be the perfect game, errors will occur, we will just have to be on our guard and react pretty damn quickly because they can hurt you.”
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