Stormers' advantage or knockout rugby mirage? 'It's always been close,' warns wily Willemse

The Stormers might carry a five-game winning streak over the Bulls ahead of their United Rugby Championship (URC) quarter-final this weekend.

Discretion being the better part of valour, though, Damian Willemse has dismissed the historical advantage.

The Capetonians are on a five-wins-to-none run against the men from Pretoria ahead of their blockbuster playoff at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday (15:30 kick-off).

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The Bulls have lost every URC game they've played against the Stormers to date, including last year's final in Cape Town.

"I know everyone is going to talk about our winning streak against them but every single game we've played against them has been within seven to 10 points," said Springbok and Stormers utility back Willemse.

"It's been close until the 70th minute. We were lucky to get a try and maybe take the game away from them.

"But it's always a tough game, the North-South derby. It's going to be neutral, it's a quarter-final game, so it's not going to be easy.

"We're prepping for a very tough, physical match as we know it's going to be. We're just trying to focus on what we can do and things we can control.

"We'll play our hearts out and make sure we survive another weekend."

Bulls director of rugby Jake White also said "history did not matter" after Western Province handed his rather strong Currie Cup Blue Bulls team a handsome 31-7 defeat in Cape Town last weekend.

WP also took a team to Loftus that blew White's men away in the midst of their 10-game losing streak with a team that comprised fresh youngsters and a debutant, Bruce Sherwood, who was a Bishops pupil last year.

"It's irrelevant how many games you've