Champions Cup: Stormers aren't underestimating struggling Clermont

Stormers head coach John Dobson is well aware of Clermont's threat at home ahead of his side's Champions Cup opener on Saturday.

The defending United Rugby Championship winners make their Champions Cup debut at the cauldron that is the Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin, and the Stormers boss is under no illusions as to what awaits his side.

Clermont currently sit tenth in the Top 14 standings, and Dobson has warned that it shouldn't be used to measure their form.

"Don't be fooled by their current league standing in the Top 14. They have beaten the teams ranked third, fourth and fifth at home and lost by a point to Toulouse away from home," Dobson wrote in his Diary entry on the Stormers' official website.

"They are a good side, and we know it will take something special to knock them over, The challenge is massive, especially because of the change in hemispheres and the temperatures," Dobson added.

In the last ten years of the Champions Cup, at least one French club has reached the final of the competition every season, with five victors.

Dobson wrote that he holds the French domestic and senior Test team in high regard, saying: "I have such a high regard for the strength of French domestic rugby, and the form of the French national team in the past 18 months is testament to the strength of the French Top 14."

"The league also includes so many wonderfully talented overseas players who have made France their home or who still play for their respective national teams, but have committed their club future to France."

Focusing on his opposition this weekend, Dobson compared Clermont to being the bridesmaid in play-offs but not at home.

"If they have a reputation of being the bridesmaid when it comes to winning the biggest titles, it is the opposite when they play at home at the Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin," he said.

"The South African players I know who play or who have played in France and those in our current squad with French club rugby experience, like Deon Fourie, Steve Kitshoff and Joe Dweba, talk of the challenge of visiting Clermont as being like few they have ever experienced outside of Test rugby."

He delved into the stats, which revealed that Clermont won from three in the Champions Cup last season and "historically, they are 32 wins from 35 home starts in the European club competition group stages."

A self-proclaimed eternal optimist, the Stormers boss added that he is also a realist and wrote, "We believe nothing is impossible, and if winning at home in the Champions Cup is considered gold, then winning away from home in France is closer to platinum."