Fleck catch a wake up......bwaaaaaaaaaaaahahaha.

A brilliant bit of coaching has the Stormers winning big against one of the form teams of the competition, with some of the most dangerous backs in the game. Pinning the Brumbies deep in their half for most of the game with clever tactical kicking....the Stormers turned the screw in the last 20 minutes, admittedly against 14 men for the last 15 or so.
The fact is the only thing between the Stormers and an unbeaten record was a very dubious penalty try.
Fleck has done fine.

 The penalty try was given based on the laws or rugby - so anyrthing dubious is part of your twisted mind.   The Stormers played a poor game and was beaten because of that one.
The key to the win today was in fact summarized in two names - Etzebeth and Du Toit. The backline was toothless - the only two players who did well was Van Wyk and Groom - two players Dave included in his assessment.   
They need another flyhalf and 12 badly and the best thing they can do is to get rid of De Jongh - another really poor game today and Leyds should also be send packing.  Zas is far better a wing than he is.   
I cannot wait for the return of De Allende - he should be back in two weeks time or so .  And I still think that J-L du Plessis is a better option than Coleman.           

 It was very dubious as many pundits have opined. It's rare for somebody like Kaplan to go public in that way....and he is not alone.
Van Wyk was picked by Dave at centre...and he hardly set the world on fire. He failed to cut off the Brumbies try. Groom was nothing more than a link, got the ball 50 times, passed 45 times. Lost the ball on the Brumbies line and he made zero tackles.
The truth is our lineout was good...Burger, Carr and Kolisi were heavily involved.....and the tactics negated the big Brumbies runners. Clever stuff. As Fleck said at the half, 'we are playing smart rugby' ....rugby suited to the relative strengths of the teams.

Yes, good to see Stormers put their hands up against what was the form team of the comp.
Against all odds too it seems - "micro backs", Coleman, "seriously deficient" Burger (who was good yet again).
Groom solved some problems at halfback. Kolisi needs to play over Notshe
Stormers showed what a scrambling committed defense and good positional kicking can do.
Kitshoff - he needs to be kept from gaining residency overseas. He would still be eligible I believe? Could well prove to be the biggest loss to the Boks

Yes Kitshoff looks to be the biggest loss. Another way of looking at today's contest is to ask which Stormers would make the the combined team. ....de Jongh maybe, Etzebeth, maybe Stephanie, maybe Schalk. And still the Stormers prevailed because they know how to compete ....and because they had a workable plan. Seems to me this is another seldom recognized example where we don't have the players...but we do have the coaching.

 So the line-outs were good - but never a word about Du Toit and Etzebeth.   Burger, Kolisi and Carr were the line-out specialists heavily involved in the line-outs.  What crap.
Just to mention De Jongh for the combined team - what hogwash.   He attempted ten tackles and missed four - ideal missed tackler ratio according to Mozart.   
       

 oimatey
Fact is that from a defense perspective Van wyk was very good - he made six tackles and missed 1.   The one Mozart harps on was when he came from the oppsotie wing coming from the opposite side of the field to try and haul in the Brumbies try-scorer.  he was too late to prevent that try.
The "microlights" were not all that good.  A large number of tackles had to be made by the forwards to cover their deficiencies. stats are as follows:-
Kolbe - made 3 missed 2 - missed tackle ratio 40%Leyds - made 3 missed 3 - missed tackle ratio 50%De Jongh - made 6 missed 4 - missed tackle ratio 40%Coleman - made 5 missed 2 - missed tackle ratio 28,5%
Where I think the Stormers were good was the fact that 60% of the game was played in the Brumbies territory and that made the invovlement of the forwards crucial in defense.  Du Toit, Etzebeth and Schickerling combined made 27 tackles, missing 4.  That is more than the combined backline made  and on par with the missed tackles count of De Jongh only.
The defense effort of the Stormers locks were so good if compared with the tackle stats of the Stormers loosies - the latter made 26 tackles missing 3 (1 by Carr and 2 by Burger).   One would expect loosies to make more tackles than locks - but it just did not happen yesterday.  
Incidentally - Du Plessis came on late - but he did make 2 crucial tackles missing none.   
    
    

Yea - their tackling stats were not great, but their commitment, cover and scramble defense were fantastic.
Look at who they were facing - Toomua, Kuridrani, Tomane, Toua - all in space, and big powerful runners. Tomane even ran right through Malherbe who was otherwise laying out dominant tackles so its not really fair to compare the tackling stats of forwards vs backs.

My issue with Fleck was his selections and lets face it....I was 100% right.
v/Rensburg at loosehead is average to poor.....the Stormers were up against the starting Oz frontrow, 1 lock and two loosies......that's 6 of the starting Oz pack.....the Stormers dont have a bulky option at hooker in Mbonambi and Scara.....both good players but hardly physical.....you need your best props on board.......Kebble should have started at 1.
Luckily the Stormers scrum stood firm
In the backs it was good to see Groom starting, he had a good game.....far better than Vermaak has been all season....not sure why Fleck rated Vermaak ahead of Groom
We all know how average Coleman is and lets face it that is never going to change
Kotze again was pretty average.....v/Wyk on the otherhand on the wing was good.......he played centre at age group level so why not play him at 13 ahead of average Kotze and start Zas on the wing, the same lad who had such an impressive Super debut
Its so easy to make that Stormers side a better one......hence the fact Fleck needs to catch a wake up......but at least he knows how to direct a side, compared to useless Coetzee
I am a Fleck fan, he just needs to open his eyes a little more.
Once du Preez and de Allende are back he will have most of his backline issues sorted.
Groom at 9, du Preez at 10, de Allende at 12 and v/Wyk at 13 and all will be well
Its about time Schalk turned up for a game, what has happened to the old man this season......its time to bring the far more impressive Notshe on board......Kolisi has been fantastic, the pick of the Stormers trio
Issue is......Notshe, Kolisi and Carr are all athletic players, they lack the 110kg plus grunt so you cant really play the 3 together......Schalk needs to come to the party