(14) Crusaders v Stormers (13)

Real skill was to detect that Dagg changed  his line at the last moment, turned and  cut off Taute, almost with his back to him. Taute should have passed, a try gone a begging but all happened in a split second.

A pity, because I think this was the Stormer's best bet for a win on tour. If they intend to defend themselves to victory for the rest of it there might not be much of a team to bring back home for those more physical derbys. I worry about Vermeulen most; he is absolutely crucial to the Boks.

 Yep, specially with the Saders being on their early season off form. Not looking better with the chiefs, brumbies and reds to go

 Stormers still lost though, but please keep in mind that we are also slow starfters. There is still hope in Cape Town.  Watch out Ciefsies!

 And Eben isn't even playing yet.

I don't buy into the slow starter nonsense, the only team that has ever surprised me by being a slow starter are the Bulls; even coming back from 5 consecutive defeats at one point. The Stormers by contrast usually struggle most during the middle portion of the competition, the Saders usually start and end weaker than the middle portion.

Either way, it looks like Coetzee is intent to play these pl ayers into the ground which means the Boks could suffer. Vermeulen and Eben are vital to the Boks.

 Sun Tau
"Centres without the vision to pass are no centres at all."
Never a truer word spoken - Taute should have passed that ball.   
Are you really serious in making that statement?   If you are how can you then claim Witless Hog Steyn is a center?

 Sun Tzu 
"Either way, it looks like Coetzee is intent to play these players into the ground which means the Boks could suffer. Vermeulen and Eben are vital to the Boks."
Agree - and so are De Villiers and De Allende.   

 Hog? Frans is our only 12 with good distribution skills, particularly in contact. Against the Bulls he ran 9 balls and passed 6; against the Hurricanes he ran 11 and passed 5. There is no unwillingness to pass. Note that the Hurricanes employed an 'out-in' defence to keep the Shark ball-carriers pinned in and contain that attacking threat. You demanded more passing, yet the threat of turnovers and intercepts would have increased by an inconceivable amount. The Boks did the very same thing in the away test in Wellington of 2007. Again, more absurd distortion of reality by the neigh-brigade. I provide the detail to shed light on what really happened; another myth exposed.

 Shall we see what these 5 passes entailed. 
First pass was to Marais - in traffic with Marais in a worst position than Steyn was.
Second pass to Lambie - when he was behind a ruck where the scrumnie should have handled the ball.
Third pass to Kankowskil in traffic
Fourth Third pass  to  Beast - when he was behind a ruck where the scrumnie should have handled the ball.
Fifth pass to Perenera
Not once did he pass the ball to Jordaan or any of the wings and the one pass to Marais was a hospital pass.  
Not once did he run with the ball and passed it.   The one time he did - he passed the ball to Perenera.   The rest he was standing dead still when he passed th ball.l 
That shows Zero in respect of distributional skills.   And your assumption about the Hurricanes defense is a pipe dream.  The one time Lambie passed the ball to Jordaan  - cutting out Witless - he beat Savea with ease.  It could have happened other times as well - but Witless Hogged the ball continuously - same s he did in 2012 and 2013.           

 I was out this morning and forgot to tape the game!! Saw a highlights package and even from that one could see two tries go a begging and some very lucky crusader tries!!
Jean and Allende look the centre pairing.  Allende right now looking the better bet to Frans so Frans has to up his game. Jean continues to impress and the young guns cant dislodge him
Draad no doubt we will get on the winning trail. What a pity thsi one was lost.I see the brumbies whipped the gentel breezers. Bwahahahahahhathe kiwis getting whipped by oz again. 

Beeno You must watch the full game.   The referees were wicked.   The scrum was a shambles and the Crusaders took it down a number of times - but the Storners were penalized.   In one case the ruled Rhodes off-side and Taylor converted the penalty tot take the Crusaders into the lead.   Five minutes later - while the Stormers were attacking in the Crusaders 22  - Todd was off-side and he was not penalized.  Minutes later the Stormers were 5 meters out - a scrum was formed and the Crusaders twice took it down.  The third time they did - the ref rewarded them with a penalty so as to save the game for the Crusaders.    

@mikey,

u need to watch the game again bro, either that or u havent explained urself properly.

"In one case the ruled Rhodes off-side and Taylor converted the penalty tot take the Crusaders into the lead"
there was nothing wrong with that penalty. rhodes was standing a half meter in front of the last stormers foot in the ruck.
at no stage was rhodes ever onside.

"Five minutes later - while the Stormers were attacking in the Crusaders 22 - Todd was off-side and he was not penalized."
we might need a time stamp from the games clock to know what incident ur talking about, cos after taylor nailed the penalty, there was only one time where matt todd was involved while the stormers were on attack in the crusaders 22, and he wasnt offside. u can find that in the at 78:12 - 78:16.

incase u were referring to todd being penalised at another time, a time stamp would be helpful, as i watched matt todd only 4 different times after taylor landed the penalty to take the lead, and he was never once off side.

"Minutes later the Stormers were 5 meters out - a scrum was formed and the Crusaders twice took it down.  The third time they did - the ref rewarded them with a penalty so as to save the game for the Crusaders."
u definitely got this one wrong, there was not one scrum awarded to either the crusaders or stormers after the penalty which taylor converted.
therefore its impossible for anything u have said to have happened.

the stormers were the better team on the day, but as the hurricanes vs stormers last week proved, the better team dosent always win.

burger was awsome, that performance is going to make all arguments about his lack of worth redundant.
dont know who was MOTM, but it should have been burger if it wasnt him.

vermeulen was awesome too, and while he did knock the ball on at a crucial stage for the stomrers when they were hot on attack, and he also gave away the final penalty which was a complete accident but penalty none the less, vermeulen out in another solid performance too.

far too many referee balming here, but it is a saffa site and saffa blame referees better then they play rugby, so n o surprises there.
but the arguments about the crusaders were the ones who should have been penalised are IMO rubbish, not all the referees calls were correct which is the norm these days, but not of all them were incorrect either.

owen franks to kitshoff to school from what i saw, and crockett like ben franks last week showed malherbe whose boss.
the reality is, the stormers scrum which was hotly rated before the match, were much ado about nothing, just like it was against the hurricanes.

It was fantastic to see Burger playing so well, the man has real heart & determination! He will get better as he gets more game time & match fitness.

 

Was also good to see him vary his game a bit. Less just charge at the defender stuff - a good adjustment to his current physical conditioning.

 Look, refs make mistakes and I still feel a little robed by the non try against the post, but the Stormers has lots to build on from this game. Hopefully we can win a game or two on tour. Good to see Grant back as well. 10 was always our biggest problem. With Grant and Cat fit, we at least have some backup at 10.