Stormers assistant coach Paul Feeney has leaped to the defence of under-fire head coach Robbie Fleck.

The Stormers are languishing in 12th position on the overall log, having won just five of their 15 matches, and are out of contention for the quarter-finals.

However, Feeney believes the Stormers are ‘better off’ than they were a year ago and that Fleck is a good coach.

‘I see Rob’s name up in lights from last year almost beating the Chiefs in the quarter-final and everybody saying how improved the Stormers were, to him all of a sudden turning into a s**t coach,’ the former Blues skills coach said at a press conference.

‘We decided to try a few new things this year and some of the things haven’t paid off. We changed the job descriptions of the coaches to see if that could give us an edge. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Some things haven’t worked, but we’re a lot better off now than we were 12 months ago.

‘I’ve got no doubt that Robbie’s a good coach,’ Feeney added. ‘I’m right behind what he does. We’ve tried things this year knowing that 2019 was our year as a coaching group for our biggest push at winning the competition.’

The Stormers will face the Sharks at Newlands on Saturday in their last match of the Super Rugby season. Feeney said the team wanted to send a few departing players off on a winning note.

‘It’s a good old-fashioned derby against the Sharks and also our last game as a group. We’ve got people leaving that have been important to this group and the boys will show how important those people are in their performance on Saturday.

‘When you look at the likes of Nemo [Nizaam Carr] who has played 98 games for the Stormers, Duvvies [Dewaldt Duvenage] has played about 92 and JC Janse van Rensburg has had a massive influence on people here on and off the field.’

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images