Surprised at how good WP were

Sure a missed penalty by Joe sunk us but that was not at all bad consdering the circumstances. The pack was better than expected. With players like Kitshoff, Bekker, Etzebeth, Schalk, Vermulen, Elstadt, Kolisi, Koster and Carr out it was a pretty good display. The lineouts out gunned the sharks as did the scrum. With Harris on at loosehead the sharks scrum disintegated at times and a scrum near the end was memorable. Harris incidently is a better Loosehead than tighthead. Very useful player.

Terirtory and possession also favoured WP and it was only a few defensive lapses that saw the sharks win the game. One trusts Nieaber will sort all that out.

With Elstadt and Kitshoff back they will hold their own if not more.

The backs looked better. Du Plessis looks promising and hopefully Howard gets a start so we can see what he is made of. Snapster, that guru re under 21 play, rates him highly so hopefully he is right for once!! Hahahahahaha 

Burton Francis is steady but lacks flair  -a bit pedestrian really. If van Aswegen returns to the level of form before being injured that that solved that problem.

So aanother very fortunate win for the sharkies - luck is with them. But a lot of encouraging signs for WP. They look a competitive side with scope to improve.

As for Mike, Stew and Sharkbok - please oaks get some perspective it is only the first game of the season!!! Hahahahahaha - I think they believe the trophy is already theirs! Als oremember rain is a great leveller!

For the sharkies Jordaan continues to impress and that scrumhalf Reinach looks promising.

Beeno

Francis average?  What a joke after kicking away aimlessly 70% of the possession - he was bloody poor to say the least.   Defensive lapses?   Another joke - they were bad under the high ball and of great assistance to the opposition.   

I agreed that the scrums were good - and the line-outs acceptable against a poor Sharks lock combination - but what happened to the hard-won balls?   WP needs a backline replacement strategy urgently.  Even Aplon could not keep up with the pace of Jordaan - is he getting slower in his old age?

Very average performance and the signs for the future is no good.   Western province must get back to a comprehensive game plan - there is really none at present. 

 WP lost the game - the Sharks may have won it on the scoreboard butthat is about it.

WP = Waiting Province. Waiting for Schalk to return............... waiting for Vermeulen to return....................... waiting for Elstadt to return............................... waiting for Kitshoff to return............................. waiting for better days to return..................

windpomp what are the bulle waiting for. We have at least won the SA Confernce for the last two years. Bwahahahahahaha.

 I think the Bulls will be happier that their name features a few times on the actual trophy..Im still yet to see this conference trophy that means so much to you Beeno...No one remembers or cares about the conference winner. If you cant convert, what does it all mean??This last game just proves that the Sharks dont even have to be at their best to beat WP/Stormers. Away from home too. Thats what winners do Beeno..They just win..They dont have to win conferences, they win when it counts...Its like tiger woods on a par 4 and he hits a cracker drive down the fairway but 4 putts and walks away with triple bogey..He doesnt say after the tournament, "Well at least I won longest drive!" It means nothing until your name is on that trophy. Forget about the conference. The Stormers are still the 3rd best SA team and thats reality. Lions and Cheetahs just haven't learnt how to win yet but beware if they do because province may find themselves wooden spoonests and the most unexciting SA team. Its a long drop from the top.. Focus your attentions on what is becoming, not what was! Sharks and Bulls youngsters are looking good, Province are looking kak...Depth wins you competitions..No good having 2 injuries and your team fades away...

All very well illogical Bok but if thats the case what are the bulle waiting for or are they locked into the past. So if we are waiting to win the trophy what are the bulle waiting for - have they given up entirely?

At least this season we again won the SA Conference and topped the log.  Great season all in all.

 Yeah Beeno, I am not a Bulls fan but they will work it out. They lost a lot of their inspirational forwards in Bakkies, Victor, Gurthro, Fourie Du Preez and Gary Botha I think his name was. The hooker. That was the base of the Bulls. They will come good. Cant win it every year but those youngsters will step up in due time. The issue with the Stormers is that their time is supposed to be now... Their players are older and seasoned. We have watched them transform into this awesome team but they are always falling short at the final hurdles. Schalk, Vermuelen, Liebenberg, Grant, Habana, De Villiers, Joe Pietersen and Aplon are not getting any younger. They have the players yet they still not winning. I just do not know whats wrong with them. Is it coaching? Im not sure because a coach can prepare you well enough but then its up to the players out there. The coach was good enough to get them top of the log so he cant be blamed for the trip up thereafter.

You put the Bulls or Sharks in the position the Stormers were in and you can bet your bottom dollar they would have their name on the trophy...The Stormers had it made! Problem is, the Bulls and Sharks youngsters look good. Province youngsters are not. I really do hope they can figure something out and turn it around!

Ou Beenbal is playing hide and seek with the facts again. Where on this forum has any of the Bulls supporters been finding excuses for their performance in the S15? Where have they been waiting for this that and the other player to be declared fit?

You have been winning the CC and Super Rugby the last 10/11 years with flokol to show for it bar the Heineken Beerpump consolation prize, and this year you did not even deserved it. You were klapped six love buy a team that has has more airmiles than the entire USA and Chinese Olympic teams together because of the final stages of the S15. By all accounts, you should have wiped the Sharks off the face earth.

windpomp when you are higher on the log than we were or if you manage to win the SA Conference then come and shout the odds.  Are you waiting for another win or not. If you are waiting then we are in the same boat as we look to the future.  Bwahahahahahahaha get real and get logical!

So the bulle players are too young but ours are older. Well illogical bok how old were Kitshoff, Deon Fourie, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Quinn Roux, Elstadt. Kolisi, Koster and Carr. We have a pack of very young players who had to do without the experience and power of Schalk and Vermulen.

It was a remarkable achievement. Even beat the bulle at loftus with a badly depleted pack. Yet the bulle have young players etc. Hahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahha illogical bok strikes again!!!!! Young players like Greyling, Chilli Boy, Kruger, Flip, Juandre, Spies, Potty and the other potgieter, Morne, Hougaard, Wynand, Ndungane, Basson and Kirchner. Hahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha sidesplitting!!!! 

No wonder Coetzee asked what Supoer Rugby franchise has a goup of young forwards like this. I would not trade the Stormers forwards for any franchise. The youngsters will be better next year and provided we dont have all these injuries the pack should be just fine.

Some of our backs are getting on. But we shall have to see how promising youngsters like Du Plessis and Howard go. Our problem is we need to stop losing backs and get in a backline coach. I will be watching backline developments with interest.

Some other ages of Stormer players. Schalk 29, Vermulen 26, Bekker 28, Harris, 27, De Kock Steenkamp 25, De Jongh 24, Duvenage 24, Van Der Heever 23 Van Aswegen 22. The older ones are Jean 31, Joe 28, Aplon 30, Grant 28 and Habana 29. Howard, Du Plessis and Van Der Heever can take up the slack but we need to find some replacements in the next few years.

In fact there is nobody much who could not make another season or two.

To conclude we have had an outstanding year in terms of results and all I am hearing is the voice of jealousy. Huge criticsm , no conetext and that without a blink at ones own shortcomings. Hahahahhahaha its hilarious! The Lions come in for far less criticism!! Bwahahahaha the green eyed monster strikes.

Its tough at the top but what a view down!

Maybe you should also have a look at this page. I have just offered someone else  advice on another thread:some

www.surfing-waves.com/surfing_lesson_three.htm

getting to the game....the game itself was really b team affair but i thought the quality was really great. sharks missing 10+ players and the wp too. was a decent game to watch but once again the game patterns being the difference. the kicking mule game plan is not working

Honestly I was suprised at level Gio and Joe played at. (Joe has been off for injuries correct?) 

I think players like these two, should have stepped up and the game could have gone the other way. Look at Lienbenberg, he step up put in a good showing and ended up with a try and 7 points on the board

Don't really want to get into a kicking static battle regading Joe's game, I am talking about him actually getting involved in the game.

But, yeah it was very much a B team and if I am honest, a really good watch. 

Beeno, you dont need to "trade the Stormers forwards for any franchise" but just get used to not winning the competition. My point proven. If those are the best of your youngsters and thats how they play without their "older heads" around then the future of Stormers rugby looks more watered down than your knowledge of the game. Take the Sharks and Bulls this weekend for example. Bulls played against a real good Griquas team and Sharks against a star studded province team and both got come from behind victories with their youngsters. 2 great second half performances. The youngsters stood up and proved their worth. Let me tell you another thing. Pieter Steph Du-Toit will be better than Elstadt ever was and Marcell Coetzee is already better than Duane Vermuelen. Duane is big and physical?? Yeah and so what? He still gets smashed. Marcell is big, physical and has a brain. Beautiful offloads at the right time. Thats what wins you rugby games.

I am not talking about the Stormers youngster in the team now like Fourie and Kolisi. I am talking about the youngsters that will need to plug the gaps when the older guys leave. No contenders to replace JDV but bulls have Frans Venter or Jan Serfontein to replace Wynand. Who is gona replace Peter Grant. No one stands out. Bulls have Louis Fouche who is coming along nicely. The list goes on. Sharks and Bulls are always planning a few years ahead. Structures are in place. Stormers is all about here and now. All their eggs in 1 basket and guess what. The basket fell from a height. It was a long way down but same result. Eggs crashed and burned!

Please dont mention Van Den Heever because he was such a talent at the Bulls and was on the brink of becoming a bok regular and the Stormers have hardly used him. Great planning guys. Bulls had a star, Stormers have a dud...Bodes well for future development. Looks like CPT are back to their ways of the past. Creating a bunch of sissie boys who are more interested in appearance and the fame that goes with it yet their forwards get beaten up and down the park for 80 mins! NOT LOOKING GOOD Bean brain!!!

We not talking here and now anymore. We talking in a year or two time. Besides, here and now, Stormers are still only 3rd best SA team. I dont wana hear your bullsh!t on conference winner. Just like the province rugby bosses view on the future development in the cape, NO ONE CARES!!!

the facts are no cups coetzee is jungle jiving the fans and the management. they always talk of building and building but if memory serves me that has been the talk for the past 5 years allready. i mean how stupid must there supporters be in believing that there is some. with nienaber leaving there primary defence weapon is not there so i really do feel next season will be a watershed season for them. instead of building a platform and developing to the next level they have more sideways and in most areas moved backwords. there is say this might be another lions fiasco in development in the next 5 or so years. they are losing supporters in any case so time will tell. they will allways have great talent due to the fact of the strong schools and clubs in the union.

the real question is how long will no cups coetzee play the "next season will be better" tune.....

Carpet, no-cups would make a great sales rep. I have dealt with sales rep a lot, and most sales rep's best month is always next month. Fire him and let him go sell vacuum cleaners or used cars. LOL

No cups what in the wolrd are you two on about. The SA Conference cup is, apart from the title itelf, the most prestigious Cup there is for a SA Province/franchise - far more so than the currie Cup get real on that score.

However that said I do not have a lot of faith in Coetzee as a coach as i have said many times. Nevertheless he still has a very good squad of forwards so we shall have to see what happens next year.

No doubt certain herders will again cover themselves in egg predicting the Stormers demise.

illogocal bok we have the best of the young forwards - no question about it. Sorry if that upsets you but  facts are facts. Keep your toys in the kott!

@ceradyne spot on mate spot on. no cups is a world class sales man en survivalist it seems. i reckon discovery channel should do a bear grill style show  with no cups. i reckon it might be a tv hit. he can spin any amount of crap on tv and some WP fanboys will believe him blindly.

i am not going to say this again the conf cup is not proper silverware. the conf cup should be renamed to the noddy cup. same as a under 7 child getting a blue ribbon fro just pitching up at a local athlectics comp. nice to have but really means nothing so stop over selling the fact nobody buys it.