Connacht flyer Mack Hansen insists his side will not be overawed by the defending champions when they face the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship semi-final this weekend.

Hansen’s side qualified for the last four with a shock 15-10 win over rivals Ulster in the quarter-finals, booking their ticket to the ‘Mother City’.

The wing had a brutal outing himself copping a nasty gash to the head in a brave effort.

“Take it to them”

The Irishman acknowledged the quality of the Stormers, as their brilliant home record shows, but is adamant that Connacht mean business when they head down to the Cape.

“They are the team, there’s no two ways about it,” Hansen said.

“Especially in Cape Town, losing one game is quality. But it’s semi-final time and anything can happen, we showed that last week. We are going there to do a job, we will not just lay down and take it from them.

“I’d say they are probably feeling pretty comfortable, thinking they’ll go well, which is perfect. They can keep thinking that.”

Connacht lost to the Stormers last time out in Stellenbosch with Bundee Aki being sent off in a 38-15 defeat.

Searching for the win

However, Hansen knows that everything changes in knockout games as they proved last weekend.

“Finals footy is just different. They seem to be harder-fought games. We know exactly what we have to work on. If it does head into the same game as the last one, we showed what we can do,” he said.

“We are fine with a dogfight as well. I know they are big men. But we don’t care. Whatever comes our way, we will play that sort of game to get the ‘W’.”

Another big crowd is expected at the DHL Stadium, with 30,000 tickets already sold by Wednesday. This comes after a record 44,109 people attended the URC quarter-final against the Bulls.

Should the attendance exceed 50,000 it would be the record crowd in the Stormers’ 27-year history.

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