Stormers coach John Dobson: We need to stop Andre Esterhuizen

Stormers coach John Dobson: We need to stop Andre Esterhuizen

Stormers coach John Dobson has urged his side to be wary of the threat of Springbok centre Andre Esterhuizen among others when his side clash with Harlequins in the Champions Cup Round of 16 on Saturday.

It is set to be a blockbuster affair with 50,000 fans expected to be at the Cape Town Stadium. Esterhuizen has been one of the standout performers in English Premiership rugby over the past few seasons. In 23 appearances last season, Esterhuizenscored 48 points -including eight tries, two penalties and a conversion - and assisted six tries on his way to being voted by his fellow professionals as the RPA Players' Player of the Year.

The men from the Cape warmed up for the Champions League encounter with a 22-22 draw with Leinster in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship last Friday, which Dobson believes serves as ideal preparation for the match with Harlequins.

"The first task was to get the guys battle-hardened and ready for Harlequins, which is a knockout game," he said.

"It looks like we're going to be ready [for Quins]. We've done quite a bit of work on them. It's going to be a great spectacle in our conditions, with their style of rugby."

The Stormers mentor then went on to identify the halfback combination of Danny Care and Marcus Smith as well as the presence of Andre Esterhuizen at centre as players to keep close tabs on.

"I mean, Danny Care and Marcus Smith, they've got real skill with those two half-backs," he highlighted.

"They play a great, attractive brand of rugby, so we are going to do what we did against Leinster - slow some ball down (at the breakdown), stop Andre Esterhuizen.

"It's going to be a great spectacle with hopefully 50,000 people in the DHL Stadium."