URC: Cardiff aim to stun Stormers to end eight-year wait for Welsh play-off win

The Blue and Blacks, twice runners-up in the Celtic League before the introduction of the play-offs, are in new territory.

The club enjoyed knockout success by winning the Challenge Cup In 2010 And 2018When they also pick up 2009 Anglo-Welsh Cup.

This is their first taste of the pressure of the URC play-offs and they face a Stormers side who have been knocked out in the quarter-finals in the past two seasons, although both defeats came on their trip to Glasgow.

Cardiff’s excellent form on their plastic pitch at Arms Park – eight wins from nine games in the URC – saw them qualify, but they now travel to one of the toughest venues in the league.

John Dobson’s side have lost just eight home league matches in five seasons, although Connacht provided reason to believe when they upset the odds in Round 15.

“The younger guys had no fear, they just tore into it,” said head coach Stuart Lancaster, who was without Bundy Aki, Finley Billham, Mack Hansen and Dennis Buckley.

The Ospreys won 27-21 in Cape Town in April 2024, but the Stormers have won five of six home play-off games, with the only upset coming against Munster in the 2023 Grand Final.

So, arguably Cardiff are bigger underdogs than the Lions of Leinster, Munster of the Bulls or Connacht in Glasgow this weekend at the DHL Stadium.