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Stormers wary of motivated Blues

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The Blues will bring a good challenge in that they’re unlike any other team his Stormers have faced this season.

Stormers coach John Dobson says their upcoming Super Rugby game against the Blues has “all the ingredients” of what they want in a match.

The Stormers will take on the New Zealanders, who edged the Bulls 23-21 at Loftus Versfeld last weekend, at Newlands on Saturday (3.05pm kick-off).

The unbeaten Stormers are the favourites going into the encounter after blanking the Hurricanes and the Bulls and also beating the Lions and the Jaguares, while the Blues won’t be lacking any motivation to make the Newlands event a memorable one.

“This game has got all the ingredients of what we want. This team is enjoying each other and they’re playing at Newlands. I didn’t realize the meaning of Newlands for these players, I thought it was just in my era and above. And playing here against New Zealand opposition is fantastic,” he said.

Dobson added that the Blues will bring a good challenge in that they’re unlike any other team his Stormers have faced this season. “They’re physical and they’re quite unpredictable, if you know what I mean. You can workout the Hurricanes’ and the Jaguares’ shape pretty easily, the Blues are different,” he said.

“This is unusual they’re physical, but they’re quite off the cuff as well. It is a challenge for us, we haven’t played a team like this.”

“The Bulls game was hard to read given the conditions, so we don’t know what to expect, you don’t know how things are going to play out at a dry Newlands. We have no excuse not to get some rhythm going on attack,” he said.

The Stormers have the superior pack, Dobson, though, is still wary of the physicality he feels the Blues forwards bring.

“For us the big threat there is some of those big-carrying forwards. The way they pick and go is really effective. And those backs are physical, hey.”

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