Stormers target home advantage as Dobson vows to go all out in Champions Cup

In the past, South African teams have often prioritised the URC over the Champions Cup due to travel demands and mandatory rest requirements, but Dobson said Saturday's game is just as important as their URC derby win over the Sharks this past weekend.

Last season, the Stormers won three of their four pool games but still had to travel to Toulon for the last 16, a scenario they are keen to avoid this time around.

"It's as important a game as the Sharks," the Stormers boss said. "We have to get a home last 16 [fixture]. You saw last year, we went three out of four. We ended up going away to Toulon," the boss said.

"I'll choose the best team to beat Bristol. I don't even want the Bordeaux game to be a weakened team. It has to be this [team on Saturday], what I'm talking about now, that sort of mix.

"The Champions Cup home game against Bristol, absolutely must-win if we want to get out of the pool."

While there may be one or two changes from the Springbok-laden team he selected for the Sharks, the core of the team will remain intact.

"We chose what we thought was the best team for a local derby we lost last season, and we'll try to keep around 80-90% every week," he added.

"Bristol under Pat Lam are a high-movement, high-mobile team, so maybe not Wilco's day at the office and I'll choose what is our best team to beat them.

"We made a lot of changes this week. Luckily, it worked out [but] we're not going to push that day and night switch."

After their opening game against Bristol, the Stormers play two away games against Bordeaux Begles on 13 December and Gloucester on 9 January, before hosting Racing 92 on 16 January.

Dobson expects his Springbok stars to be available until the end of the month, before international rugby resumes with the Nations Championship in November. The Boks will then return to domestic action in December.

"Most of them are getting one game off, excluding Edinburgh last week. Some guys have chosen not to exercise that right, which is great," he added.

"And then full metal jacket until the end of January."

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