Ex Supersport
DHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee remains firmly convinced that this year could be the one where his team finally goes on to win the Vodacom Super Rugby trophy, but the mounting injury toll is undermining the realism of their challenge. (Of course we could have won it thgis year but these injuries have almost sunk us - when do the top players come back. Will it be to late?)
The Stormers, faced with the toughest possible start to the season as they have now played all the in-form teams in the competition, have won just two games in six starts.
On Saturday they face their fierce rivals, the Sharks, in a return derby that their opponents long ago targeted as a potential conference decider – and it is shaping up as that, with the Sharks now leading the Stormers by nine log points.
It’s now a long time since these two sides have faced each other at full strength, and they won’t be anything near full muster this week either.
Coetzee can console himself with the thought that his Sharks counterpart John Plumtree is in a similar situation to that in which he finds himself, with Plumtree on Friday night after the win over the Crusaders lamenting the fact that he is now in a situation where some positions are no longer backed up.
That is the case with the Stormers too, with fullback Jaco Taute the latest big-name player to sustain an injury that is going to require a long lay-off. Taute tore knee ligaments as he went over Willie le Roux’s leg in the first half of the match in Bloemfontein at the weekend, and while a time scale has yet to be confirmed, he looks likely to be out for the rest of the season.
That’s far from ideal for the Stormers as they already have Bryan Habana and Gerhard van den Heever missing from their pool of back-three players.
Former Bull Van den Heever, who showed great form this season before being injured against the Crusaders, will be back in a couple of weeks, but Habana might only be available to play for the Stormers again after the June international window.
Tiaan Liebenberg, Eben Etzebeth, Peter Grant and Schalk Burger are other key players already missing from the Stormers' team sheet, and after the weekend there is still a possibility that Elton Jantjies and Siya Kolisi could be added to that list by the time the Sharks game arrives. (How is Elstatd going?)
“Elton twisted his ankle against the Cheetahs,” confirmed Coetzee. “Fortunately it’s not unstable at this time and he should be okay. Siya went over on his ankle. Both players are walking okay today (Sunday), so they should be ready to play against the Sharks.”
The problem for Coetzee is that after the Sharks game comes the overseas tour, and the depth in the touring squad is often what separates a successful trip from a failed one.
And the Stormers are likely to be in a situation when they leave for tour where they need to complete the unique feat, for a South African team, of winning all four matches on the road.
However, although obviously disappointed with the way his team lost to the Cheetahs, Coetzee remains upbeat.
“We will never give up and we are still in the competition race,” he said.
“We’ve had a tough start and we’ve had injuries. We make too many mistakes and they have cost us. The Sharks will also be a really difficult team to beat in Cape Town. We saw how physical they were against the Crusaders. However, we know that if we win this game we are still very much in it, just one win behind the Sharks. So there is a lot to play for.”
What the Stormers might talk about as they look ahead to the rest of the season is their identity and playing style.
There have been times when it appears they are not quite sure what strategy to adopt, and they fall between the style that got them to the top of the log last season and one that seems geared towards satisfying the clamour from their fans for more tries.
Coetzee might also acknowledge though that in this season where his team has made far more mistakes than in the previous two, it is attacking rugby that leads to mistakes and offers opposing teams opportunities.
Both Cheetahs tries this past weekend came from turnover ball off Stormers mistakes, though the Sarel Pretorius try off a charge-down of a Nic Groom kick – the ball went straight into his hands and lodged there – had an element of freakishness about it.
The whole season has had an element of freakishness about it. Our fortunres re injuries surely must turn.
Go Mighty Stormers pump these guppies. They are only missing a couple of players so it wont be as easy as it would have been if we met eachother at full strength.
Some notable twits and oaks here will see that recognition is made as to the effect of injuries something the likes of the udder and moooo la, poly and the others fail to understand - until it happens to them. Bwahahhahahahaha
