Can Stormers avoid the ’cold fish’ against the Lions in the United Rugby Championship?

Cape Town - The Stormers are rightfully getting rave reviews after beating the Bulls away, drawing with the Sharks away, and then beating the Durbanites in Cape Town.

But coach John Dobson has seen this movie before, and is not falling for it just yet. Steven Kitshoff's team are the leading South African team in the United Rugby Championship at the moment, which is a bit unexpected, considering all their boardroom problems and lack of star quality.

Dobson and his coaching staff seemed to have found the recipe for success, and Kitshoff and his teammates are implementing it to a tee, culminating in the 20-10 triumph over Lukhanyo Am's Sharks last weekend at Cape Town Stadium.

They are clear favourites for Saturday's URC clash with the Lions at Ellis Park (3pm kick-off), but the Stormers are still a bit haunted their 37-19 defeat to the Johannesburg outfit in early December at Cape Town Stadium.

That came off the back of a satisfying tour of Europe, where they were in winning positions against Benetton and Munster, only to lose in the end, drew with Edinburgh and beat the Dragons.

“We are tracking nicely, and that was a good performance against the Sharks. But I don't think it means that the Stormers are revived or Champions League (European Champions Cup) sort of qualifiers yet – there's a long road to travel. We mustn't forget that in Durban, we had a really hard time,” Dobson said.

“But we had a similar feeling on the tour. From that game against Benetton, and then we were quite good in that first half against Munster … it was very good. Then against Edinburgh, who were on top of the table a week ago, we drew with them and should probably have won that game. Then we finished with a win in Newport (against the Dragons).

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