Cape Town - It’s been nearly six years since the Hurricanes last won in Cape Town and if the Stormers have their way, the team from New Zealand’s capital will keep on feeling the heat at Newlands on Saturday.

The Hurricanes last beat the Stormers at Newlands in 2006, but since then the Capetonians have improved dramatically, reaching the Super Rugby final in 2010 and winning the South African conference last year.

But that doesn’t guarantee anything and Stormers coach Allister Coetzee is well aware that his team needs to hit the ground running if they are going to replicate their feats of the last two years.

“The Hurricanes have always been a team with good open field runners and counter-attacking capabilities. They live of turn-overs, but I also think (Hurricanes coach) Mark Hammett has brought more structure to their play since taking over last year, so we’re expecting much-improved set piece from them,” said Coetzee.

“This game will be a huge challenge in all aspects. It’s the start of the season and our aims are to get a fair share of the possession, play in the right areas on the field and take our scoring opportunities. It’s exciting that the competition is finally starting. It will be highly competitive in all departments.”

The history between these two sides is very even, with the Stormers ahead by 7-6 in matches played. The figure is very similar for encounters played at  Newlands, where the home team has won four of the previous seven matches in Cape Town.