O’Driscoll backs Stormers to go big in Champions Cup playoffs

Brian O’Driscoll believes the Stormers will grab the headlines in the round 16 knockout phase of the Champions Cup. 

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Looking ahead to the last 16 where all eight Vodacom United Rugby Championship teams qualified out of the Champions Cup pool stages, O’Driscoll has his eyes set on Cape Town and the home of the Vodacom URC champions for the tie of the round.

“It’s great to have the South African teams getting into the knockout stages in their first year. The Stormers versus Harlequins has the makings of a great game. They both like to play rugby. That could be potentially the fixture of the last 16 on paper,” O’Driscoll said. 

“The Stormers possess this huge power game, with big advantage line players, and have numerous fleet of foot backs. They can play lots of different variety to their game. They will be a very tough team to beat in Cape Town on a fast track down there. They are scoring some great tries.”

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O’DRISCOLL LOOKS PAST LEINSTER FOR CHAMPIONS CUP

While many are backing URC leaders Leinster to lift the Champions Cup, O’Driscoll hedged his bets a bit more when asked to pick out his favourites to be crowned European champions. 

“La Rochelle, Toulouse and Leinster – I see the winner out of the three of them,” said the Ireland and British & Irish Lions legend. “I am always wary of La Rochelle. They are going about their business quietly.”

Leinster made it 16 wins out of 16 matches in all competitions this season with a 36-10 victory over Racing 92 in front of a crowd of more than 40,000 at the Aviva Stadium to finish top of Pool A. But they were trailing at one point and O’Driscoll did see some signs of vulnerability from his former team.

“You thought who is going to put it up to them and then they looked human and again it’s against one of the big powerful teams in Europe,” said O’Driscoll. “If you are looking for some sort of Achilles heel, where they have come unstuck in the past, it’s been against big opposition, Saracens, La Rochelle. They found it tough against Toulouse as well.

“They are definitely going to have to work on their defensive maul. They have had a little bit of weakness there. They are going to have to keep their discipline, so teams don’t have opportunity to kick into that five metre channel and maul them over. 

“You’ve got to bring your power game against Leinster, stop them in the collision zone and slow their ruck ball down,” O’Driscoll concluded.

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