Stormers - Hurricanes Match

At this stage I am not sure who will be in the Stormers team and also not sure whether Julian Savea will be considered by the Hurricanes.  However, based on the information available - Habana wll be in the Stormers team - nd so will Aplon and De Jongh.

There is definitely an advantage for the Hurricanes which I doubt not they will exploit to the full and that is especially so if Savea ia playing as well.    The players with the worst backline defence stats in Super 15 this year are De Jongh and Aplon and with a clever player like Conrad Smith around the Stormers backline is going to be the route course of demise of their hopes against the Hurricanes.

For the record De Jongh made 24 tackles this year and missed 8 - while Aplon made 13 tackles and missed 6.   That sound very much like a defence using a sieve and tf the Huuricanes get enough possession that sieve will not stop the flow of tries.

The only way the Stormers can stop the fiasco would be to ensure that the Hurricanes backline is starved of good possession - but I cannot see how this could be achieved throughout 80 minutes.    My personal opnion is that it would be better to play De Allende at 12 and De Villiers at 13  - as two poor defenders playing together at 13 and 14 would be disastrous.    One stronger defender and a weaker one together would to an extent sunstantialy neutralize the situation. 

I am waiting to see the team sheets before I make a firm prediction - but if De Kongh and Aplon play as epected and furthermore if the Stormers select Jantjies at 10 - the writing is on the wall for the Stormers,   bad news for sure.

 Hahaha......Oom Maaik is this massive early mouth again,  while the egg is still dripping off your third chin?

@mikey,
its silly to rule out the stormers even if some of those players (de jong, aplon) are playing, IMO they havent been that bad this year.

but julian saveas has ruled himself out & while i have no problems with that given the recent events, the chances of the hot cold hurricanes have taken a huge blow.

hurricanes are a hot cold team, but the have victor vito returning this week which is great news, only thing is he needs to put his ass into gear and start playing like the talent he ism something he hasnt done all year,

a lot of saffas dont rate NZ forwards, and the hurricanes even less, but i think were going to surprise a lot of folks, with tomaga allen, matuu, franks, thrush all in good form & thats 4 of our top 5.

am annoyed that hammet selected karl lowe over ardie savea, but that does help with fanatsy selections i guess, but lowe is way too slow, hes about as mobile as a saffa prop, something a lossie should never be.

if hurricanes cut down on the handaling errors and make their tackles count, then they will be in with a chance, but thats a big if.
i give the stormers the edge in this match, regardless lof the team they name.

Mozart

Stats don't fit in with your big talk - so now it is being ignored.   Do you really believe that the defence of the two players mentioned is acceptable?

Best chance the Stormers have is constant infringing they could stall the Hurricanes momentum. The Aussies are pros at it- happy to give away penalties with their professional fouls.

Hilarious how the Reds accused the Brumbies of doing exactly that . Pot and kettle stuff.

The Stormers have only scored 4 tries in the last three games though so they will struggle. Just as well there is no Savea bros to contend with but Hurricanes to take it,...

In prospect i don't think Hurricanes will win this game although i could be wrong. Stormers had a reasonably longer time to prepare and observe how the Hurricanes played last week, the return of Habana would be a huge confidence booster for the team, his work rate is phenomenal. Regardless of how poor the combination of De Villiers and De Jongh has been before its fair to say they improved in the Sharks game. I still rate De Jongh, hes a influential player when he has enough ball in hand. From what i've heard Barrett is back at flyhalf for the hurricanes as opposed to fullback, i believe its a better option for him. Barrett did retrieve some criticism for his defence however i think hes a good flyhalf, his tactical kicking is decent and he can attack the gainline. Victor is returning as sasu stated, to me hes the only stand out player in the forwards. Im expecting the Stormers forwards to dominate in the collisions. The factor of discipline is important for both team it can decide the outcome, being patient in some areas and keeping the composure is what some teams lacked last week, hopefully this week is more exciting for all games. Go Stormers! 10+

Steinlager please stock up your frigde boet with some strong brew to help drown your impending sorrows! 

The wee canes may be facing a second string Stormers outfit but their chances remain less than 50%

Who of course is the ref could be important.

Mike I am with you. I thin Allende is getting a bad deal here and should start even if only on the wing. I do not like the back three being so small.

Beeno

Size does not bother me a much as the defence of the players - what really bothers me is their defence.   The stats for the games played thus far is as follows:-

                                                    Tackles Made        Tackles Missed

Aplon                                                   13                               6

Pietersen                                             23                               7

De Jongh                                             24                               8

Between the three players they made 60 Tackles and missed 21.   That means a missed tackle ratio in excess of 25%.    The much-maligned Jordaan in all the games he played in made 70 tackles and missed 4 - so size really is not the issue.   In contra - Jordaan missed less tackles than Steyn missed in one game - a further proof that there is really no size issue at all.

I am afraid the team as announced is as expected and am worried that the sieve playes are not going to stop point scoring by the opposition.   It reduces the chances of the Stormers drastically and could indeed be a nightmare.   

Mike
Those stats does indicate those players need to improve a little at defending, its fair to make assertions based on stats at times. I noticed on ur posts theres no indication how many tackle attempts has been made why not? If a player missed more tackles its fair to say more attempts has been made. With less missed tackles its most likely not many tackle attempts has been made, are you in a agreement with that? If you look at the comparison with Jordaan he doesn't make much tackle attempts therefore theres less missed tackles. I believe more tackle attempts proves they are a more brave defender and a better defender. People tend to think less miss tackles is beneficial but not always.

Lucid

Fair observation.  It is not always very clear in games to see how many tackles players actually make - it is easier to see how many they miss.

The stats providd are from ESPN Scrum.   What they do is they computerize the game and from there have a programme that determine every activity of players on the field of play.   Based on that they build up the actiivities of players on the field of play - one of which is tackles made and missed.   There is a chance of some minor variations - but one would assume that the stats are at least 90% correct.    However, there are other data systems also in use - such as Foxsport, Testrugby, etc.   When those stats are compared they are remarkably similar and one can accept that the stats actually reflect similar tendencies in players - especially if taken over all games played..

Insofar as tackles are concerned - the total number of tackles are the added up sum of the tackles made and tackles missed.    Jordaan for instance attempted 74 tackles and made 70 and missed 4 - De Jong attempted 32 tackles and missed 8, Aplon attempted 19 tackles and missed 6, etc.

However, what is not reflected is where a player is out of defencive line and the oppoents runs around him and he is unable to attempt a tackle.   That happened on a number of occassions to De Jongh for instance in the Cheetahs game and is a real deficiency in the game of Engelbrecht.   When it happens to players their total  tackle statistics is low and still a poor reflection on the defencive capabilities of players.

There always will be missed tackles in games - it is only natural and part of the game.  One would say a tackle miss percentage of circa 8 to 10% is acceptable.   I have a serious problem where missed tackles constitute 25% or even more of the total number of attempted tackles - that really show serious deficincies in defence.  Missed tackles by backline players often leads to tries being scored or the team being put on the back foot.  

That is why a combination of De Jongh, Aplon and Pietrsen is so really worrisome.

You guys seem to forget that a team is like a family.

One for all and all for one ...

What I'm saying is that I believe this issue will be taken onto the pitch and Savea's absence will be felt.

It makes it that much harder to concentrat and focus on the task at hand.

The Stormers have a good shot at taking the 4 pts this weekend.

Jordaan is a couple of kilos over the 0 kg benchmark ou maaaike an dis not a small center - dsay meduim.

Aplon is around 80 kg Joe is also under 90 - 87kg  I think and De Jongh about 87 as well. The point is when you are small your tackle has to be that much better to be effective.Your chances of dominating collisions is less percentage wise etc.

Size matters very much and hence the wisdom of my comment ou maaaike.

Why do you think its the three small guys that are battling. I will say though the yare doing a bit better than I thought largely due to Nieaber's exceptional defence coaching.

Allende being a big lad carries more clout.  I wish ou Alistair would wake up.

Please also wake up ou maaaikie!

Thanks

Beeno

Observations accepted.   At least Jantjies is not in the team - so there is a slight chance of less damage to the Stormers efforts.