The Stormers cannot expect to make advances on their great last outing as they lack the man power and now with Rassie Gone the ideas will dry up. they May have the greatest pool to choose from but there is nothing else there. the Developement of players goes so far and then its drops off.
Give a Team like the Lions , The Stormers Resources and i will show you a winning team.
The only Strength the Stormers have going into this season is their fans.
and maybe their captain !
Hi jinxed, seems you are far to pessimistic about the Stormers - SAs premier rugby outfit. Be assured we will be competiting hard this season and defendiong our SA Conference title.
I am anticipating a top 6 finish barring injuries and appaling refs -thnk NZ/OZ and also craig joubert and marius bonkers!!! To play against the bulle with these two refereeing is like taking on 30 opponents! I am hoping we do not see them reffing when we play a SA side.
No, the Mighty Stormers should be the SA flag carriers this year once more. I just hope Alistair has the nous to pick the pack I suggested - 932 kg of dynamite.
I never saw an idea making a fine pass or a good tackle. If ideas could win rugby matches the Cheetahs wouldn't have been a dry well in the S15 under Rassie. Nor did Rassie's ideas make much of a difference to the Boks at the RWC.
Coaches provide discipline, technical skills and the will to win. It's the latter commodity I always doubted in Rassie's case.
For too many years the Stormers have relied on flawed talismen. Years were wasted with Watson making himself the focus of everything.....and then not delivering. Then we had the Rassie, was he the coach wasn't he the coach thing. I finally concluded he was only the coach when we won. Next we staked everything on Habana and poor old Fury.....who in the end delivered nothing.
The Saders show us the way.....a core of long term stalwarts and good home developed talent....a focus on the team and not the individual......and honest competition, not sleight of hand.
I believe this year we, the Stormers, are in better shape than we have been for a long time.
What resources do the Stormers posses that the Lions don't?
money and security, financial security is what the have down in Cape town. we could only wish for it.
Interesting post Moz. I would like to read Beeno's assessment/reaction.
Money and security can be wrapped up as one thing.....interesting,there are those who believe the Stormers don't have the money hence the reason they lost Sadie, Whitehead and a few others. One can argue that the Bulls and Sharks have more money than the Stormers, personally I think the Stormers are probably just a little bit better off than the Lions for why else would they let that type of talent and potential go begging?
Deleted.
"I never saw an idea making a fine pass or a good tackle. If ideas could win rugby matches the Cheetahs wouldn't have been a dry well in the S15 under Rassie. Nor did Rassie's ideas make much of a difference to the Boks at the RWC.
Oh please Moz this is not on. You know ver ywell that the Cheetahs won tw oCurrie Cups two of their 3 in all thier history under Rassie. Rassie never had the depth to compete in the Super 15 with the Cheetahs.
When rassie joined the Stormers and began winning ahome matches you said he couldn't win overseas. He then took the Stormers down under and won a record number of times!!! He just missed a semi final spot when the warts slotted a penalty in driving rain moments before the fianl whistle.
The year the stormers came 10th he had 17 player sinjured. In thelast two years we came second on the log. All this represents a huge improvement for us.
At the world cup unfortunatley BL shafted us big time. I ahve no doubt we would have won as the Boks were looking very good. It has been widely noted that Rassie made a significant difference. jke thought highly of him. meyer does, venter thinks he has a brilliant rugby brain Cobus Visagie says he is one of the astutest rugbybrains he a=has encountered. Etc etc etc.
Please Dr Mozzzzzz stir some other pot as this is not on!!!!
As for Watson he i sNOT Bok material but did okay here as a player and captain. Given our loose forward strength now he probably wouldn't make the side.
I like you am fairly optimistic re the new Super 15 season. Rassie left everything in place. Wha ta job he did with the youngsters as well. Man WP management should be all fired for letting him go!!!!!!!!!!
Next year and the year after etc will tell how capable Alistair is.
Stormers pack could be very good if Alistair doesn't foul up. Backline should have flair and Habana at 13 is an exciting propspect.
But please lets have no more nonsense from anyone here re Rassie. He and Brendan Venter are the only real brains we have. Mallet is not too bad either
Smart move by Meyer though to offer Coetzee a position - knowing he would not accept - Boks can be thankful for that as Alistair flopped with the Boks and really has yet to show anything other than that he is a gentleman and a decent guy.
Moz your bias is showing here!! I note also your mistaken ideas about jaque Fourie - who has had an illustrious careerr by any fair standards!!
I see ou windpomp is still with us (Ceradyne) and I can only wonder why. He is of course most welcome but what are his motives? I trust they are all honourable windpomp? Perhaps it's the coaching in matters pertaining to rugby you are in need of? Hahahahahahahahahahha
Coaches provide discipline, technical skills and the will to win. It's the latter commodity I always doubted in Rassie's case. Try playing 78 matches for the Boks I believe it was without having the will to win!!!!!! Always also remember the same ref who shafted the frogs in the final shafted the Stormers in a Super 14 final agains the bulle!
Oopsie Beeno1 is taking on the good doctor but he does it with croocked stats and facts. Rassie's Cheetahs won the 2005 CC at Loftus due to one fumble between Fourie du Preez and Johan Roets in the last seconds of the game. In 2006, he shared it with the Blue Bulls in Bloem. Now Frans Ludeke is always accused of winning two S14 titles with Heyneke Meyer's team. With whose team did Rassie win the CC in 2005 then? When he moved to WP with a much "better" team and a much bigger budget, then why could he not achieve immediate success? In fact, if you wanted to go by facts and stats, Frans Ludicrous is a much better coach than Rassie.
Oh yes, if you wanted to inflate his number of test caps, you should maybe have added a few to his tally, and not doubled it up and then add a few.
I think the Stormers biggest obstacle could be Coetzee, the guy lacks vision and his selections are suspect. Playing Habana at 13 is a huge mistake - the lad is not equipped to play centre at all. Instead he should have gone with one of the talented youngsters he has at his disposal - real centres like JP du Plessis or Pat Howard.
Coetzee also looks set to stick with the average de Kock Steenkamp at lock in the Stormers squad, instead of investing in the talents of young locks like Eben Etzebeth and Quin Roux.
Will he select young tighthead Malherbe instead of the useless Harris - no he wont.
Will he play v/d Heever at 15 - no he will select the diminutive Joe or Aplon at 15
The Stormers might not be perfect but they have class players in all departments. The front row is a concern though.
The Sharks look poor at the back. The Lions, can they step up to Super Rugby level? The Bulls lost a lot of experience and their depth will be challenged. The Cheetahs are in the same boat as the Lions, a player here and there putting the hand up, but the team letting them down.
The Stormers have some good youngsters coming through. They should be utilized in this long season.
What crooked stats. The Free State won two Currie Cups under Rassie what is crooked about that startement windpomp!! Rassie was actually coaching the side as a player before reiring and coaching so he built up the sides that won.
Ludeke didn't do much at the lions and hence the doubts about him. Loffie Eloff was clearly better with similar talent.
I may be wrong about Rassie's test caps and indicated as much by saying I believe not that I knew as a hard fact.
I see you are still busty twisting the facts windpomp! Up your game.
I hope you will be laughing as much as me when the bulle run out down under in their pink jerseys!!!!! Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha hilarious stuff!
Ally, I think our conference is wide open, the Sharks look a lot more settled than the other four teams so I'm tipping them to finish on top. Inexperience is what's going to cost us, I really don't fancy our chances but once again I expect the Sharks to be the only SAFFA side to make the final six.
Great to see you posting on here....tc.
Fair comment Ally. I am of the opinion currently that Malherbe is a fairly strong tighthead. Stronger than Harris who actually makes a good loosehead. How good will Carstens be having toughened up in the NH where the scrum seems to mean more.
I am not too worried about our scrum.
I am hoping Alistair gets it right. Especially re the pack selections. against big packs he must consider Elstadt at 7 and bring in Etzebeth at lock. Steenkamp is a journeyman lock.
Eish Beeno. You have missed the issue about Rassie's test cap tally. Ludeke has still won two S14 titles and a CC title since he moved from the Lions. So he improved when he moved to the Bulls.
Rassie won two CC's with the Cheetahs and then, when he moved to the WP, he won Flokol, apart from the green thing. So he went into a nose-dive when he joined the WP, and when the heat in the kitchen got to him he pissed off.
Accept it. He is a crap coach. Has always been. Will always be. He is a good technical analyst, and that is that.
No Beeno - Harris is useless wherever he plays. The Stormers best bet is a young set of props in Kirchoff at 1 and Malherbe at 3. Carstens is a waste of space - what a bloody poor invetment he is - much like the Bulls with Gerber and the Sharks with Joubert
