Slick Waratahs perfect measure for Stormers

Newlands rugby stadium has traditionally seen the best crowd numbers over the years, but season ticket holders may think twice of renewing their tickets. Photo by: Matthew Jordaan

Newlands rugby stadium has traditionally seen the best crowd numbers over the years, but season ticket holders may think twice of renewing their tickets. Photo by: Matthew Jordaan

Published Apr 29, 2016

Share

Cape Town - It’s been difficult to actually gauge the Stormers’ progress in terms of their attacking game, and where they actually find themselves in relation to the best teams in Super Rugby.

The new format makes it difficult to actually know how good they really are. While they have won six of eight matches so far this season, they really haven’t played many of the tournament’s big teams.

By that I mean the New Zealand sides.Their biggest game was probably against the Brumbies, and they comfortably dispatched the Australian outfit at home. But the week before that, they lost to a limited Sharks side.

Their other big game was a South African derby against the Lions, who the Stormers are trying to follow when it comes to playing an all-encompassing brand of rugby.

The Cape side lost that match 29-22, although they were in the game for a long period and could have won it.Generally speaking, the Stormers have played some fantastic rugby over the last three weeks. Their attacking play is also slowly coming together, as they scored seven tries against the Sunwolves and five against the Reds.

But against the Lions they scored only one, and those are the sides you want to measure yourself against... the top dogs.The Stormers face another one of those big teams when the Waratahs rock up at Newlands on Saturday night (kickoff 7.15pm).

What makes the Waratahs the sort of team you want to measure your attacking play against, is that they have some of the best attacking and creative players in the business, while they also have a good pack that is going to enjoy their fair share of the ball at Newlands.In addition, they are slowly getting back to their best after a slow start to the campaign.

It’s going to be the perfect test.“I think we chatted about the Lions being a similar sort of challenge for us, to see where we really are, likewise for the Brumbies early on in the campaign. It’s big teams like this... to see how far you have grown as a team and where you are (with) regards to the rest of the competition,” Stormers coach Robbie Fleck said yesterday.

“Certainly the Waratahs are a team who have found a bit of form recently, they had a slow start to the campaign, but they have always had quality coaching and quality players. It was just a matter of time before they found their feet again.

”The Stormers beat the Waratahs 32-18 last year in Sydney by tackling the life out of the home side, and then striking from turnover ball.In that game, the Waratahs were a bit too predictable in terms of their attack, as they just came with one-off runners. They didn’t look to exploit the Stormers out wide or with a few chips over the top.

Fleck doubts that the Watatahs will be as predictable tomorrow night, but his team will also be looking to do more than just tackle for the entire 80 minutes.“We always look back at what we did in the past against them. It always helps with our analysis, even if we have changed the way we want to play the game. I think they will be smarter than in that game in Sydney. They probably forced their hand a little bit,” Fleck said.“Their culture hasn’t changed, they want to keep ball in hand.

They have some really good runners out wide and they base their game on momentum. We have got to be as good defensively as we were in Sydney, but certainly our approach this year is that we want to play more with ball in hand.”The Stormers are going to be boosted in midfield with the return of co-captain Juan de Jongh, who missed last week’s match with a concussion.

He will partner Damian de Allende at centre – the first time that the two Springboks will play together this year.“This midfield combination is the one we would have thought about as our first-choice centre pairing at the start of the season, so it is good to see Juan and Damian finally playing together,” Fleck said. “Johnny (Kotze) did well for us while Damian and then Juan were absent, but now that those two are back, I am very happy.”

TEAMS FOR NEWLANDS

Stormers:15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Rynhardt Elstadt, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.

Bench:16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Huw Jones.

Waratahs:15 Andrew Kellaway, 14 Reece Robinson, 13 Israel Folau, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Jed Holloway, 7 Michael Hooper (captain), 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Will Skelton, 4 David Dennis, 3 Tom Robertson, 2 Hugh Roach, 1 Paddy Ryan.

Bench:16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Jeremy Tilse, 18 Angus Ta’avao, 19 Sam Lousi, 20 Wycliff Palu, 21 Matt Lucas, 22 David Horwitz, 23 Matt Carraro.Referee: Mike FraserKickoff: 7.15pm TV: SS1 SS HD1

Cape Argus

Related Topics: