The Stormers are banking on their “extra man” to get them through Saturday’s Super Rugby north-south derby against the Bulls at Newlands.
Having suffered their first home defeat of the season against the Brumbies last weekend, flank Pieter-Steph du Toit says they will leave nothing out on the park when they face the South African Conference leaders on Saturday (3.05pm).
But while they will do their best to return to winning ways on the pitch, Du Toit believes it’s the Newlands faithful that will give them the edge against a team that beat them 40-3 at Loftus in their first encounter of the season.
Du Toit explains: “[Playing against] the Bulls is just something special.
“Everyone tells you that you can lose every game, just beat the Bulls.
“We’re going to give it our all - the fans pay to watch the game and we have a responsibility to give them a good match.
“If we can get that right, we’ll be happy.
“The support [from the Newlands crowd] means a lot to us and it’s always a big advantage if you have the home support.”
After playing the Bulls, the Stormers travel to Argentina to face the Jaguares before returning home to play against last year's finalists the Crusaders and the Lions amongst others.
It's a tough road if they want to make the playoffs.
But Du Toit is adamant that they can still make it to the top this year.
The reigning SA Player of the Year explains: "Every team has its own challenges.
"To measure yourself against the top teams, you have to play them and you have to beat them. We just want to play against the best teams and beat them.
"We are in a good space at the moment and we just have to play better on Saturday."