ONS SKRIK VIR NIKS

STORMERS defence coach Norman Laker expects a dogfight when they tackle Welsh club Cardiff Blues in their final league game of the United Rugby Championship in Friday at Cape Town Stadium.

The Kaapse span are in fifth position on the URC standings after last week’s bonus-point win against the Dragons, with Cardiff sitting in sixth and only two points separating the teams.

A win will be enough for the Stormers to seal fifth spot and book a potential quarter-final against the Sharks (fourth) or Glasgow Warriors (third) – depending on this weekend's results.

But according to Laker, they are not worried about who they will come up against in the quarter-finals, as they want to make sure they finish with a win in their final home game of the season.  

The defence guru also confirmed some groot honde like Manie Libbok and Neethling Fouche are back in the fold for the 7pm Friday night lights clash against Cardiff.

And of how it will be a dog-eat-dog evening in Green Point, Laker wysed: “We value every game at this stage of the competition, so we are not looking at permutations.

“We want to go out there and give our best, and if we get four or five points, we will take it.

“Cardiff is a really strong team, and they have done really well this season. We have not beaten them in quite a while because we have been playing them away at their home ground for the past two seasons.

“I can’t take anything away from Cardiff, they are a quality outfit, well-coached, with some good international players.

“It is gonna be a dog fight on Friday night... ”  

Meanwhile, Stormers management tells the Daily Voice that Springbok prop Frans Malherbe is still not available for selection after suffering a back injury last month.

But of most of the members of the squad available for Friday’s game, Laker says: “It’s the first time this whole year that we can select [almost] anyone in the squad. We will be picking our best squad possible.”