Ex Supersport
The Stormers know they are going to have to sort out the inefficiencies that have recently snuck into their forward play (Since Duane left) if they are to maintain their winning run against the Waratahs at Newlands on Saturday.
The Stormers pack has been one of the surprise packages of this Vodacom Super Rugby season, not just for Cape fans but in the competition as a whole. Long regarded as the Achilles heel of Stormers and Western Province rugby, the young unit has stepped up to the plate in a grand way, and with youngsters like Steven Kitshhoff, Frans Malherbe and Eben Etzebeth in the vanguard, the tight five paved the way for early victories against the Hurricanes and the Sharks before dominating the Bulls in the first half of their recent Newlands derby.
Forwards coach Matt Proudfoot deserves immense credit for the way he has moulded the promising raw material that has come through the systems created over the past four years into a fearsome unit. When the Stormers pack is on song and has momentum up, no other team in the competition can touch them. (As I say repeatedly put Burger and Duane in the pack and it is without question the best in the comp. Without them they are a good pack but may not have enough to compensate for an underperforming backline)
However there are still occasions when they lack efficiency and fail in their quest to dominate, and Stormers captain Jean de Villiers on Wednesday backed up what his coach Allister Coetzee said last Saturday night -- the attacking game against the Cheetahs was not helped by the failure of the pack to secure consistent front football.
“After watching the game on video it became apparent that we didn’t really have that many opportunities,” said De Villiers, who after the Cheetahs game had denigrated the performance of the backline and said it just wasn’t good enough.
“We lost three lineouts when on attack in their 22, and that does not help the quest to keep the pressure on your opponents and to set up good attacking opportunities.”
Although the Stormers scrum dominated the highly rated Cheetahs unit in the first half, the hosts faded disappointingly in this phase in the second half (not the first time this has happened against those opponents), with the roles being reversed after halftime.(Needed Liebenberg)
Coetzee thus is unsurprisingly calling for an 80 minute effort against a Waratahs team that lies 11th on the overall log table but which remains strong in set-piece play.
“I think the Waratahs have the best scrum in the competition,” said Coetzee. “They are strong in first phase play, and we saw how their scrum got the better of the Bulls for much of last week’s game.”(Please note bulle)
The Stormers haven’t played the Waratahs for two years as they were one of the teams they missed out on facing in 2011. However Coetzee has noted changes that the Waratahs have made since the team’s last met, which was when the Stormers comfortably beat them in the 2010 Newlands semifinal.
“We smashed them physically twice that season, as you will recall we also outplayed them in the round robin game. But they said after the semifinal that they were going to learn from the experience, and they said that they realised that to beat South African teams they had to beef up and become more physical.
“They have done that. They have put on six to nine kilograms per man since their last visit to Cape Town. They are a quality side and they do the basics well.”
De Villiers joined Coetzee in paying respect for the Waratahs’ potential.
“They didn’t win last week against the Bulls but they will be pleased with the way they got several aspects of their game right and they probably should have won that game,” said De Villiers.
Yes Jean that is the general consensus bulle somehow burgled the game against a better side. No denying it really.
