Stormers Rugby

What could be bigger then a Super Rugby semi-final at home against the most successful franchise in the history of the competition?

Short answer: Nothing (Other then a home final that is).

The rumor running mill around the Cape is that Stormers coach Allister Coetzee is contemplating starting with the experienced Jantjes at fullback for this crunch match. This move would presumably see Gio Aplon being shifted to the wing.

But is this a wise option?

And in such a massive clash against a quality team like the Crusaders, what could be gained from this?

In short, Gio Aplon is arguably the best fullback in South Africa at the moment, and moving him from his preferred position to wing is just a waste. The Stormers will need every bit of flair and slickness in their arsenal if they are to nullify the destructive potency of the Crusaders' back-line.

Aplon brings swift counter-attack opportunities for the Stormers at the back, where if you give him a sniff of a gap or opportunity, he has the potential to rip you to shreds.

Why would you want to deny your team of this?

If he is forced onto the wing he will barely touch the ball, and his prowess on attack will be completely wasted. 

Conrad Jantjes has done the job at fullback when called upon this year, but that's all he's done: a job. He's done nothing to stand out and has been found wanting on numerous occasions. At crucial times in big matches, he has made costly errors that has put his team under pressure.

He has been exposed under the high ball, and he has lost a lot of pace (after all, he is 31 years old). His attempts to counter-attack and join the line have quickly been foiled by opposition defenders, who use his lack of pace to hit him quickly.

This has actually lead to the Stormers defense being put under pressure as defenders then have to quickly retreat. If Jantjes starts on Saturday, the Crusaders will certainly look to expose this.

Aplon would surely be a better bet. And is no slouch on defence or under the high ball either. His left boot isn't half bad and having him at fullback won't diminish your team's kicking options either.

The only other reason Coetzee may be contemplating Jantjes is that there is a potential forecast for rain on Saturday. If this is the case, he may be thinking he will need more kicking options, and that the booming boot of Jantjes could come in handy.

I'm not convinced. I think you take away probably your most exciting attacking player, and at the expense of what?

The Stormers back-line looked fairly slick with De Jongh at 12, Fourie at 13, De Villiers at 14 and Aplon at 15 against the Cheetahs. Even Habana looked better in that game. Why change a good thing?

The score is Stormers 6, Bulls 12 with 15 minutes to go. The Newlands crowd is in a screaming frenzy in and effort to lift their team to a victory. A defensive line-out for the Stormers in their half. Tiaan Liebenberg steps up and throws it over the towering Bekker and straight into the hands of Bulls scrumhalf Francois Hougaard. Hougaard steams through the defense and dives over the line, a gleeful look on his face as his try effectively wraps up a famous win for the Bulls, crushing the hearts of the Newlands faithful.

This is not the first time Hougaard has broken Stormers hearts. His try in the 25th minute of the 2010 Super 14 Final in Soweto was a sucker-punch to the Stormers psyche, who would try in vain to overturn a 16pt deficit. The Bulls would go on to win 25-17.

So what makes this so difficult to swallow for a Stormers supporter? Not the fact that the Bulls won (as hard as that may have been), but it is the fact that Hougaard is a Cape boy. Hougaard was raised in Paarl and attended Paul Roos. He made his senior debut for the senior WP side at just 18 years of age. So how could the management of Western Province let this one slip through the cracks? The same question can be asked of Conrad Hoffman who has made his move up to the Sharks. And what about Charl McLeod? Whilst not born and raised in the Cape, he did move here and came through the junior ranks, playing mostly Vodacom Cup and had a couple of games for the seniors. Remember the name Paul Delport? He is now playing Sevens rugby but was also another promising prospect.

Why are these players falling through the cracks? In the professional era of sport, there are bound to be players that are lost. Every province will experience this. And especially in the Cape where there is an abundance of quality talent at schoolboy and Varsity level. The problem is, there is only one team and matchday 22. Not everyone will be able to succeed.

But if we count, that is four talented scrumhalves that have been lost. The main reason is game-time. For a WP and Stormers fan, it has been frustrating seeing Hougaard scoring winning tries against us, or Hoffman on the bench for Natal, when we are stuck with Ricky Januarie.

For years now Januarie has been only a shadow of his former self. He arrived in WP in 2008 and has not really done enough. He has been given opportunity after opportunity to prove himself, but his attitude and weight problems have let him down. His lack of fitness, poor service and erratic displays were quite apparent to every Stormer and opposition supporter. Is there any wonder that there would be big cheers at Newlands when he was replaced by Dewald Duwenage? To put it bluntly: he just did not warrant selection, and his constant presence in the side only meant he was keeping a talented youngster out. And with the loss of the players I've mentioned, this has quite clearly been the case.

It was good to see the depth in WP Rugby at scrumhalf when Louis Schreuder and Nic Groom finally got their deserved chance this past weekend against the Cheetahs. Schreuder shows potential and arrives at the breakdown quite quickly. I think he may need to harness his delivery of the ball as he often took an extra step, but although not the finished product, he showed what he is capable of. His replacement Nic Groom, who excelled for UCT in their Varisty Cup winning campaing, also impressed during his 20 minutes. He looked calm and composed, with crisp service from the base, enabling Grant to get the backline going. He also has a good boot, which was evidenced when he was under pressure to clear the ball from his 22.

I think both these players should be protected and nurtured.

Which brings me to the question: Do The Stormers Really Need Francois Hougaard? Firstly, he is a fantastic player with great versatility and vision. I think he'd be an asset to the Stormers, no question. If Rassie signed him I would not object. It could also be a good signing in that he could play wing. And seeing as though Hougaard is originally from the Cape, I'm sure there is a part of him that wants to come "home". But I think that WP should harness the talent that is already here. The Cape is brimming with talent. One can see this through the success of the WP Under-21 side last year, and the successes in the Varsity Cup through Maties and UCT. Credit to the Stormers this year for blooding in a lot of new talent with the likes of Rynhardt Elstadt, Johann Sadie, Danie Poolman, Gary van Aswegen, Frans Malherbe and Stephen Kitshoff to name a few. The key here is to keep and nurture that talent. Does the WP management really need to look outside the Province? For every player that is brought in, we are closing the door on a youngster waiting for his chance. 

I understand this is the professional era and player movement across all levels is expected, but in the experienced Dewaldt Duwenage, and up-and-coming youngsters Schreuder and Groom, I think we are fine with in the scrumhalf department. For those questioning the "readiness" of the newbies for Super Rugby, lets use the Currie Cup to blood these guys in and get them settled. Do we really want to lose them, and other players in other positions?  

Imagine Nic Groom or Louis Schreuder running in to score the winning try against WP at Newlands in a Sharks or Bulls shirt. It's not a nice vision, is it? Let's make sure it doesn't happen.

The Stormers got their first win of the season in Cape Town, but they almost let themselves down in the most horrible way.

The Reds traveled south after their loss in Pretoria. They almost swung their tour around in fine style and out-scored the Stormers in the second half.

Two quick tries by either side opened the scoring and the Stormers looked dangerous. The Reds drew first blood through Quade Cooper, who charged down a kick by Andries Bekker and scored. The Stormers replied soon after with a try by Thonderai Chavanga.

The Reds defended well for the next few minutes as wave after wave of Stormers attacks were met and snuffled. Then the Reds started some attacks of their own, also extinguished by the Stormers.

Peter Grant slotted a penalty to open the lead to 10 points to 5 for the Stormers at half time.

The Stormers started the second half with a new vigour. Andries Bekker was at the end of a number of phases put together by the Stormers. They hung on to possession, built pressure on the Reds defence and Bekker went over in the corner. Conversion by Grant.

Another Grant penalty stretched the Stormers lead to 20 points to 5.

Jean de Villiers then produced one of the best pieces of back-line play of the weekend, if not the best. He broke the defensive line of the Reds and timed his pass to perfection sending Sireli Naqelevuki over the line for a try. Grant converted and it was 27 to 5 for the Stormers.

With 23 minutes to go it looked like the Stormers were hitting their straps and were ready to run away with the game. At least scoring the bonus point try seemed a certainty.

The Reds decided not to stick to that script. Saia Faingaa crashed over the line for a try and the Reds were clawing their way back. The conversion missed and it was 27-10 to the Stormers.

They played a structured game and the pressure on the Stormers was relentless from then on. Quade Cooper burst through a gap and put Scott Higgenbotham away into the corner. Conversion was successful for once.

The play rarely moved out of the Stormers 22 in the last 5 minutes as the Reds joined the Stormers in the hunt for a bonus point try. They achieved this thanks to Van Humphries crashing over next to the posts, making the conversion easy.

27-24 was the final score and the Reds almost stole it at the death. If their conversions had been more successful they would have upset the highly-rated Cape Town team at home.

As in years past the Stormers look good on paper, but not on the Super 14 log. They will feel disappointed that they did not manage to get that fourth try.