- Loose Stormers striker Junior Pokomela made it clear he would take on Tshwane and his Highveld whims any day because of the Durban humidity.
- He said it was instructive ahead of the North/South Rugby Union Championship clash between the Bulls and Stormers at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
- The Stormers had to brave the Durban heat and humidity to score a huge win against the Sharks in their previous URC outing.
While most teams would prefer the hospitable climates of Durban, the Stormers’ young Pokomela made it clear that they would be happy to deal with the altitude of Tshwane and Johannesburg than the humidity of Durban.
It’s probably the most positive to ever come from a traveling side having a game in the Highveld, with the Stormers heading to the capital city to face the Bulls on Saturday in another installment of the North/South Derby.
This United Rugby Championship clash will be the first between the teams since their historic meeting in the final last year.
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They’ll be without their Springboks, with the Stormers shaved more than the Bulls, but for Pokomela, in what was a hilarious but instructive chirp, the trip to Loftus Versfeld isn’t much of a scare.
After all, he may have been born, raised and buttered in Gqeberha, but his senior rugby lungs were tarred by the scorching altitude air at Mangaung during his stint with the Cheetahs.
“Oh no, we would definitely take the altitude in the Highveld than play in the Durban humidity. We had a brave performance there but it was horrible,” Pokomela joked after being asked about the conditions that could be expected on Saturday, even though the Stormers were successful in Durban.
“The heat doesn’t affect us as much as the humidity, so it doesn’t really matter.”
With the wet and wild climate of the Highveld, it would be easy to assume that the Stormers are well equipped for that.
With rugby now a purely summer sport, teams will not only have to deal with the scorching heat that is dry in the Cape and Highveld and humid in Durban, but also with the rain that tends to follow it in the north and east. .
A state of national disaster has been declared in Gauteng due to heavy rain which, on Monday, saw the Bulls’ training session moved to later in the day.
Stormers defensive coach Norman Laker said it was always a blessing to play in dry conditions, but added that they couldn’t prepare for just one set of weather conditions.
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“When you’re running the ball, it’s a blessing when it’s dry and hard, but we’ll prepare for whatever weather there is,” Laker said.
“There could be a storm in Johannesburg and there is nothing in Pretoria and in the past, we also made the mistake of preparing for different weather conditions in a game and it rained during the game.
“You have to prepare for any weather that comes your way, and you have to deal with it. We played in difficult conditions in Ulster, in Glasgow as well.”
“We’re just going to bring the best, best-prepared team possible for Saturday.”
