Former Exeter Chiefs and current Stormers star Ruben van Heerden backed the Capetonians to come away with a victory in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup this weekend.
The second-row arrived in Cape Town earlier this year, originally on a short-term deal, but has since secured his long-term future at the Stormers.
Inside information
Van Heerden has valuable information on the Exeter set up, considering he has played there this season, which is the reason he is unable to wear the Stormers blue at Sandy Park this weekend.
The star is cup-tied after representing the English club in the earlier stages of the Champions Cup, and he is “gutted” that he cannot play this weekend. The 25-year-old believes the Stormers can win but knows how good Exeter are at home.
“From an individual point of view, I am absolutely gutted that I am not allowed to play,” he said.
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“That said, the boys have a great challenge this weekend. The Chiefs are a tough team to beat at home. They have only lost one game at home this season. That was against Saracens. They are a different animal at home. The crowd gets behind them. The Exeter guys know that Sandy Park field so well.
“I think our boys have a well-balanced plan. We have good forward play, a power game and we can run. The Chiefs are known for their forward play, so it will be important not to give them 22-metre entries and to play a disciplined game. The forward match-up is going to be very good.
“In broad strokes, it will be an arm-wrestle. Playoffs are always like that. I think we will match them up front. I have no doubt our backline will take them on. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Stormers put up a massive performance.
“I have no doubt the guys flying over to Exeter will get the job done. I know we have it in us to go to Sandy Park and come back with the win.”
Always working hard
The second-row was impressed by his team’s performance against Harlequins and underlined that even when the Stormers are stringing good results together there is still a lot of hard work.
“It was a great performance,” Van Heerden said. “These Premiership teams offer a different challenge to the teams we have in the Vodacom URC. To see the boys take up that challenge was great. Harlequins are known for their attacking rugby and we fought fire with fire.
“The boys are flying high and rightly so. From what I know about this group, even when we are flying, we are still grafting and we know there is a different challenge coming in Exeter this weekend.”