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- Stormers loose-forward Junior Pokomela made it clear he'd take Tshwane and it's Highveld vagaries any day over Durban's humidity.
- It was instructive he said that ahead of the North/South United Rugby Championship clash between the Bulls and the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
- The Stormers had to brave Durban's heat and humidity to score a big win against the Sharks in their previous URC outing.
While most teams would prefer the hospitable climes of Durban, Stormers loose-forward Junior Pokomela made it clear they'd be happy to deal with the altitude of Tshwane and Johannesburg than the humidity of Durban.
It's probably the most positive thing ever to come from a traveling side that has a game on the Highveld, with the Stormers going to the Capital city to face the Bulls on Saturday in another instalment of the North/South Derby.
This United Rugby Championship clash will be the first between the teams since their storied encounter in the final last year.
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They'll be without their Springboks, with the Stormers shorn more than the Bulls, but for Pokomela, in what was a hilarious, but instructive throwaway chirp, the trip to Loftus Versfeld doesn't hold much fear.
After all, he may be born, bred, and buttered in Gqeberha, but had his senior rugby lungs tarred by the searing altitude air in Mangaung during his stint with the Cheetahs.
"Oh no, we’d definitely take the altitude on the Highveld than play in the humidity of Durban. We have a brave performance there, but it was horrible," Pokomela quipped after being asked about conditions that could be expected for Saturday, even though the Stormers were successful in Durban.
"The heat doesn't affect us as badly as the humidity, so it doesn't really matter."
With the Highveld weather being wet and wild, it would be easy to assume that the Stormers are well equipped for such.
With rugby now purely a summer sport, teams will not only have to deal with the blistering heat that's dry in the Cape and Highveld and humid in Durban, but the rain that tends to follow it in the North and East.
A national state of disaster has been declared in Gauteng because of the heavy rain that, on Monday, saw the Bulls' training session being shifted to later on the day.
Stormers defence coach Norman Laker said it was always a blessing to play in dry conditions but added they couldn't prepare for just one set of weather conditions.
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"When you're running with the ball, it's a bit of a blessing when it's dry and hard, but we'll prepare for whatever weather that's there," Laker said.
"It could storm in Johannesburg and there's nothing in Pretoria and in the past, we also made the mistake of preparing for different weather conditions in a game and it rained during the fixture.
"One has to prepare for any weather that comes their way, and you have to deal with it. We played in tough conditions in Ulster, also in Glasgow.
"We're just going to bring the best possible and best prepared team for Saturday."
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