Stormers lack physical edge

Well guess who mentioned all this long ago.
A small hooker and two small flamnks ensure they will noyt domiante. Add in the injury to Etzebeth and its even worse.
Next who cannot see the wee stormers backs are a problem. Too many of them. Personally I belIEve quotas are at work as all thsi is too obvious for words.Poor Fleckie! (NEED ANOTHER TOP CENTRE AND A 15 AS kOLBE MUST GO TO 9) The Stormers can still beat bottom ranked teams but cannot hold top teams. 

After going three matches without a victory the alarm bells are starting to clang for a DHL Stormers team that was beaten by a Vodacom Bulls team that adopted what used to be the Cape side’s game at Loftus on Saturday.

On paper at least, the Stormers still have a great chance of making the play-offs. Although the Bulls, who have the same number of log points as them, are now topping Africa Conference 1 of Vodacom Super Rugby because they’ve scored more wins, the Pretoria team has to host the Emirates Lions this week and there is also a trip to Buenos Aires in their future.

The Stormers, by contrast, have home games to the Toyota Cheetahs this week and the Southern Kings after the June break to look forward to, and they sandwich an overseas tour that sees them play in Perth and Melbourne. It can definitely still happen for the Stormers, particularly if the Bulls, who were better than them at the weekend but remain limited, drop games.

However, it should alarm the Stormers’ brains trust that they are in a far weaker group and have not dominated like it looked like they may do during a rousing opening two months of the season. More than that, it should start to become problematic for them that they appear to be lacking the physical edge that is needed for them to attain the momentum that enables proper execution of their game-plan.(EXAVCTLY RIGHT!!!!!!)

It is all very well saying that you are going to play attacking rugby, and after Loftus, head coach Robbie Fleck was again sticking to his guns. He’s not going to change plan after three iffy weeks, and neither should he. But Western Province director of rugby Gert Smal should be asking whether he has the personnel to play the game he wants the Stormers to play, while Fleck should be giving serious consideration to the subject of which member of his team or management team is responsible for firing up the aggression of his men and lifting their physicality.

Defence coach Omar Mounmeine does a wonderful job of that at the Sharks, who have impressed with their physical intensity over a period of seven weeks. By getting up so regularly, the Durbanites have somehow survived a period that was described as a tour from hell to still be competitive in both Africa Conference 2 and the overall South African conference.

The Stormers though have been too passive at the breakdowns and in their defensive game generally over the past two matches, and they shouldn’t be pleased with the fact that the Bulls beat them at what used to be their own game at Loftus. The Bulls ratcheted up the aggression and the physicality, and by winning the collisions and dominating the breakdowns, they just never allowed the Stormers to profit from the stats that showed that it was indeed the Cape side that played more rugby.(wILL THAT kOLISI/CARR FAN SNAPSTER WAKE UP!!!!!! )

The simple reality for the Stormers is that they no longer have the physical presence of big Duane Vermuelen to help them attain the required momentum and dominance. Eben Etzebeth did return at Loftus but it was his first 40 minutes on the field in six weeks so too much was expected of him, while Rynhardt Elstadt isn’t quite the same physical specimen he was when he last played regularly as a lock in 2011.(HE IS OF COURSE A NUMBER 7 AND SHOULD HAVE PALYED THERE. qUESTION IS DID FLECK NOT KNOIW THAT OR IS HE BATTLING QUOTAS?)

Siya Kolisi has also been disturbingly quiet in his role as a blindside flanker over the past three weeks, disturbing that is if you feel he should be a must selection in the Springbok No 7 jersey. Nizaam Carr is statistically speaking the best Stormers loose-forward at present, but he wasn’t great at Loftus, so a lot was left to Schalk Burger, who was back to his best in the big game atmosphere, and to Pieter-Steph du Toit. (EXACTLY AS I CALLED IT - AN EASY CALL IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT RUGBY!! )

The latter is in the form of his life, but it is asking a lot of him to bring a big carrying and physical presence when he is being asked to make as many tackles as he is having to make at present while at the same time having to run and dominate the lineouts. At some stage even the finest players just find they run out of energy.

The shortfall in physical drive in the forwards has led to the impotency of a backline that is still short of real muscle out wide – Kobus van Wyk standing as the lone exception – being exposed.

So in the short-term Smal has some work to do on recruiting – he was unlucky in terms of wing recruitment this year as let’s not forget that Cornel Hendricks had moved to the Cape before being diagnosed with the ailment that has cut short his career – while Fleck has something to think about in terms of how he is going to get his men up to muster when it comes to physicality and aggression.

That was where the Bulls beat them at the weekend. The Stormers end this phase of competition against the Cheetahs at Newlands on Saturday and a victory could put them back on the top of Africa Conference 1 if the Bulls lose to the Lions on the same day. But in the long term future lies a potential clash with a Kiwi team in the play-offs and beyond that a season where the opposition will be a lot tougher than it has been in 2016. Some thought on the way forward may be necessary.

 The selection of players is all wrong. Burger getting and handling more balls than the flyhalf is effectvely the Stormers no 10 and that neutralizes the backline of the Stormers comprehensively. They in fact are emulating the game plan of Meyer - a plan stopping any team from scoring tries because of predictability. The one time there was no forward of the Stormers destroying the backline De Allende scored an easy try. 

The Stormers main problem is their loosies and the article is correct about one issue - Du Toit has to do all the work up front and taking over the loosie role as well. With Etzebeth not matchfit on Saturday - this was just too much to be expected from Du Toit alone. .

 Small flanks, small hookers and a lock moonlighting in the backline, while his opponent RG Snyman was dominating the lineouts and the tight/loose. Perhaps we should try Stephanie at 7.

 Mozart
So Du Toit is to blame when he had to cover for Etzebeth and Elstadt, who both under-performed as locks, for Burger who tried to take over at flyhalf role and neglected his role as a loosie - for Kebble, who was seriously out of depth in this case and for the other loosies - who were comprehensively out-played.
Read the article above - it is clear why the Stormers forwards were out-played, but Du Toit was not blamed for it by anybody bar you - who gave a completely skewed picture of what happened.   Why don't you accept that when Burger was not the stand-in  flyhalf De Allender scored his try?    .     

 Perhaps he should just have played his assigned role....trying not to lose 2 lineouts, lose the ball 3 times, drop a kickoff and run into touch. In total 7 costly, energy sapping turnovers....forgiven by his groupies but a big part of why the Stormers lost.
As for Kebble, who was his main support...he didn't seem to be getting much shove from behind. But that's the problem with these lighter locks.

 Mozart 
Hou op om kak te praat.   You are delirious and failed to realize the truth as outlined in the article and in the game itself  - so back to the weight lie.  

 I'm afraid the failure of the Kebble/Stephanie side of the scrum just highlights my point. Given HM got Goosen right at fullback, one has to wonder if he got Stephanie right at flank. It would appear so.

Standard BS - do you never tire of it.  

 Seeing at PSDT failed to support Kebble at scrum time, would that mean you now agree with us that Matfield was a liability when playing for the Boks? That our tight 5 was in fact a tight 4?
Glad to hear it, Mozart. 
It's taken awhile but I had every confidence you'd come round ... some day or an other ... 

 Actually after our scrum imploded without Matfield against the Bargies in Durban last year, it was solid after Matfield locked things down in Bargie......solid in the WC Bronze when Matfield was the MOM as well. Thanks I was hoping somebody would open that door.

 Standard BS galore.

Beenkop.....I see you are speaking your usual bullshit....if the Stormers cant dominate physically with Malherbe, Kebble, Koch, Etzebeth, PSDT, Schalk and Elstadt on board then they should be shot
Blaming Kolisi and Carr is insulting and ignorance of the highest order
For the record Kolisi has been great and Carr has had some great moments

 Kolisi, Carr and Kebble were physically dominated last week. RG Snyman was better than the Stormers locks.  Malherbe made no inroads against the inexperienced Bools  loosehead. Elstadt is fish nor fowl player.....not big enough to be a top lock. Clumsy at loosie in games that open up.

RG Snyman was not better than PSDT......why were Kolisi and Carr dominated physically and Schalk not, when in fact it was Schalk who was visibly dominated by Snyman? Its simply not true.
Kebble was not physically dominated at all......the Bulls scrum got the slight upper hand in that battle as a unit......there is very little to choose between the packs, but the big difference comes in the lack of physicality that the Stormers have at hooker and this showed in the scrums.
On the day the Bulls won the physical battle, but the Stormers did that to the Bulls in their earlier meet.
 

 29'- Another scrum penalty for the Bulls. Again it's Kebble!

Brummer will line up a shot from close to the touchline...

' Marcel van der Merwe will need to pick Ollie Kebble from between his teeth at half time.'

I know you find reality a bit harsh, but let me assure you Kebble was dominated....big time.

No he was not.....you know what a big fan I am of Marcel......but I also know that a struggling scrum is not down to an individual player, but down to the scrum as a unit......individual players being targeted by refs at scrum time is so hit and miss.
Yes there are times a prop sees his arse in a big way......that was evident when the Lions lost both Redelinghuis and Dreyer as tightheads and they brought that poor youngster in who got owned.
That never happened to Kebble, just like it never happened to Coenie playing for the Sharks......evidenced by average Adriaanse coming on to replace him only to have the exact same thing happen to him.
There is no prop in the game that dominates every opponent he comes across.....for the simple reason that the scrum operates as a unit. One week Sio was the hero, next the villan
If we judged props like you do, there would not be a single worthy prop in the game

 There is a difference between not dominating, and failing under pressure. The Stormers scrum was not being shoved backwards, it was relatively stable.
The problem was Kebble buckled under pressure. It wasn't at the hit it was after. Few secs of pressure...he broke. Not the scrum....Kebble.
The Beast has had some games where he struggled over almost a decade...but never scrum after scrum like Kebble on Saturday. I have never seen Kitshoff or Nyakane failing scrum after scrum like that.
That problem will reoccur. Against the wrong prop Marcel will pop up again. Malherbe has held his feet better this year, so maybe he is over the belly flops. He seems to have found a way to solve his problem
But Koch has a power deficiency, no way to cure that, nor Kebbl's inability to take pressure.

Oh what utter fucking rubbish....how the hell do you justify the fact that Kebble was buckling under pressure when you think Marcel is so crap.....just shows how scrum ignorant you are.
If frontrows go down, it has to be simultaneous as they are bound......how the hell do you make the call that one of the 4 props is the culprit.....hence the refs calls being a laugh most of the time.
True domination occurs when one scrum marches another back as a unit.
Based on what does Koch have a power deficiency.....what utter rubbish  

 Well the one time Kebble didn't hinge Marcel popped and conceded the penalty. Trouble was he couldn't keep his feet long enough to apply pressure to Marcel like other props such as Marais who dominated him. Oh I forgot Marais didn't do that it was the great Cheetahs' scrum.....waaaaaahahaha.

Ah so how do you explain Marais seeing his arse lately....let me guess, he has suddenly lost the art of scrumming? For the record at no point did Marais ever dominate anyone, just like he has never seen his arse. In some games the Cheetahs scrum has dominated in others it has not.....thats not down to the individual, its down to units operating differently.
Kebble couldn't keep his feet......what do you base that on?
Props playing at this level and who continue to be selected are ones that have made the grade. They are able to perform their primary scrummaging function....how the scrums performs on the day is down to how they operate as a unit.
Look no further than my Sio example
Props that cant cope soon get exposed......look no further than the young Lions prop I mentioned.

 Kebble couldn't stay upright, he cracked in the upper body which went down under horizontal pressure.