Chiefs coach Dave Rennie‚ who is well-placed to measure the Stormers’ progress after three meetings over the past year‚ believes that they have come a long way.

The Chiefs beat the Stormers 17-11 in Saturday’s Super Rugby quarterfinal at Newlands.

The New Zealanders lost 34-26 in Cape Town in Pool play earlier this year.

That was after the Chiefs won the 2016 quarterfinal against the Stormers 60-21‚ which rocked the foundations at Newlands and forced a deep level of introspection.

NZ teams have only lost three of 47 matches against overseas opponents in 2017‚ and the Stormers inflicted two of those by beating the Chiefs and Blues at Newlands.

They struggled against the Crusaders‚ Highlanders and Hurricanes on tour‚ despite playing some good rugby at times.

Rennie believes Stormers coach Robbie Fleck has the team on the right path.

“The Stormers are much closer than they were 12 months ago because they’ve beaten us once this year‚” Rennie said.

“They were close again tonight and they were much better prepared than in 2016 after facing five Kiwi teams this season.

“They are well aware of the intensity required.

"They are a lot fitter this year and have a far better understanding of the game they’re trying to play and how to defend against Kiwi sides.

“Even on their tour to New Zealand earlier this year [the Stormers suffered three heavy defeats] they really pushed sides.

"The Hurricanes beat them late while the Crusaders were pretty emphatic.

"The Stormers are a good team with a lot of good kids coming through.”

Losing Saturday’s quarterfinal was a blow for the Stormers but Rennie admitted it wasn’t easy for his team.

“They put us under a lot of pressure‚ which forced a lot of handling errors.

"But that’s finals footy and perhaps both sides battled on attack because of the quality of the defence‚” Rennie said.

“When we played here earlier this year‚ I thought the Stormers were outstanding with ball in hand‚ so we knew we had to work hard to shut them down and deny them space.”

The Chiefs could still return to SA in a fortnight to face the Lions in the Super Rugby final if they beat the Crusaders in Christchurch and the Lions beat the Hurricanes in the two semi-finals this weekend.

“We rate the Lions‚” Rennie said.

“They beat us in Hamilton last year and if the 2016 final was in Johannesburg they probably would have won.

"Johan Ackerman has done a great job with his group.”

Rennie‚ who is heading to Glasgow at the end of the season to coach the Warriors‚ will come up against the Cheetahs and the Kings again with those two SA sides set to play in a revamped Pro 12 competition.

“South African teams are going to immerse themselves in a couple of competitions with the Pro 12‚ and their rugby will keep growing‚” Rennie said.

“I’m not sure if scaling it down is for the good of Super Rugby.

"We’re not even sure which Aussie side is going to go out at this stage.

"If it’s the Force that would be strange as they came second in the Aussie Conference.

“The Kings and Cheetahs were outstanding at various times this year and they both got some good results.

"Maybe going over to the Pro 12 will be really good for them.

“Ultimately though‚ if SA went from six teams down to four they would be a lot stronger wouldn’t they?

"Clearly that’s not going to happen.” - TimesLIVE