- Considerable rain has been falling in Cape Town ahead of the United Rugby Championship final on Saturday.
- The Cape Town Stadium pitch will be under pressure come scrum time, with Deon Fourie hoping it can hold out for "one more game".
- Attack coach Dawie Snyman emphasised that tactics will be adjusted accordingly depending on what the weather does.
The pouring rain in Cape Town this week has added another dimension to Saturday's United Rugby Championship (URC) final between the Stormers and the Bulls.
For much of the season, the two teams contesting the cup have played in relatively perfect rugby conditions.
This spells out the fact that both teams will have to adjust their games accordingly at the weekend.
When Deon Fourie and attack coach Dawie Snyman spoke to the media on Monday, they were warmly dressed in puffer jackets, stressing the chill and shower outside.
"We will adjust on what the scenario will be [on Saturday]. We're a team that makes decisions on space and opportunities that are available. If there are opportunities to have a crack, we'll go for it, but we also have to be clever about it, and we also have to get our balance right," said Snyman.
Snyman commented that from what he can tell, the rain will be pouring down until Wednesday and then return on Saturday, with the team having the benefit of training in the rain.
This means that whatever happens at the weekend, they would have had the best of both worlds in the build-up.
"We're working towards slippery conditions. We'll have to adjust [around conditions] and be clever around it."
Conditions are of particular importance because of the state of the Cape Town Stadium pitch.
Wet and slippery conditions will give rise to a slow game, replete with scrums - something that was a point of discussion during the British & Irish Lions Tests last year as the turf often couldn't keep up with this set piece of the game.
Fourie said:
He conceded that the pitch isn't ideal for scrums presently.
"Hopefully, it can keep up for one more game," Fourie said.
What does he make of the breakdown? He is the competition's leading turnover specialist (25) and will certainly want to attack that area of the game come Saturday.
"It goes both ways; there will be the guys coming into the breakdown to clean, and they have to stay on their feet too. It's going to be scrappy, but we'll see on Saturday."
He ended with a caveat Capetonians are accustomed to: "You know Cape Town weather, you'll look up on Saturday and the sun will be shining so hopefully that will be the case."
Kick-off at the Cape Town Stadium is at 19:30.