Barry’s back as Jouba’s jolted
19 Apr 2006
De Wet Barry’s exclusion from the Stormers starting team lasted one week. Keo.co.za has learnt that the poor form of Marius Joubert will mean Barry returns to the starting team for the Reds clash, but not as outside centre.
Stormers coach Kobus van der Merwe will opt to include Barry in the more familiar position of 12 in an effort to address the midfield defensive lapses which have plagued the Cape side’s campaign.
Jean de Villiers’ defensive demons see him shifted one out and he will start as outside centre, one spot closer to the touchline then he’d like on attack, but crucially one slot away from the channel he has been unable to defend adequately in the Vodacom Super 14 thus far.
Barry will reclaim the captaincy of the side, whilst Joubert reverts to the bench. Before returning from injury, Jouba told SA Rugby Magazine he was haunted and hungry. His performances so far have shown him to be more the former than the latter, and he will not be able to question his axing.
Van der Merwe will also opt to retain the same back three who did duty against the Chiefs. The Hamilton side’s realisation that neither fullback Tonderai Chavhanga or winger Jongi Nokwe are secure on the high ball was the decisive factor in the Cape side’s loss on the weekend.
Reds coach Jeff Millar is sure to instruct a few early launches, and the pressure on the inexperienced and out of form Chavhanga and Nokwe will be huge.
Neil de Kock’s stand-out performance against the Chiefs when afforded his second start has not been deemed sufficient for a third. An injury concern has also contributed, with De Kock forced from the field before the fulltime whistle. Bolla Conradie reclaims jersey 9 and De Kock will again deputise.
Lock Ross Skeate is crocked again, and Gerrie Britz returns to partner Andries Bekker in the second row.
STORMERS SIDE TO PLAY THE CHIEFS (probable)
15. Tonderai Chavhanga
14. Rayno Benjamin
13. Jean de Villiers
12. De Wet Barry (c)
11. Jongi Nokwe
10. Naas Olivier
9. Bolla Conradie
8. Joe van Niekerk
7. Schalk Burger
6. Luke Watson
5. Andries Bekker
4. Gerrie Britz
3. Eddie Andrews
2. Schalk Brits
1. JD Moller
SUBS
16. Hanyani Shimange
17. Neil Fullard
18. Henk Eksteen
19. Adri Badenhorst
20. Neil de Kock
21. Peter Grant
22. Marius Joubert
By Chris Hewitt
56 Comments
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19 Apr 2006, 11:52 am
For once I agree and disagree with Fester. Last week was the first game this year that MJ and JdeV played together at centre. We always preach consistency – how can you decide after one game it does not work, instead of giving them time together to settle down???
On Chavanga, Nokwe – well done Fester!! Yes, they are not playing the way we’d like to see, but the season’s gone anyway. These two guys have lot’s of potential and I believe to stick with them and give them time in those positions is now the right decision.
19 Apr 2006, 12:10 pm
Coach 25,
Bryan Habana, winning the 3N single handedly ?!?
The ability to run fast with a open field in front of you and fall down can in no way can be described as single handedly, gosh I even believe that if JF kept the ball in hand and pinned his ears back he could have scored himself.
I tend to agree with Edwill on MJ, no player that is ‘ just not good enough ‘ could outplay the likes of O’Driscol and Umaga (and we all know how ordinary he made Umaga look in the ’04 3N), and further be nominated as 1 of the 5 finalist in the ’04 World Player of the Year when played against the likes of Umaga and O’Driscoll on several occasions.
19 Apr 2006, 13:36 pm
i do not understand why guys like joubert, big joe etc aren’t played in the vodacom cup first to et their confidence up before throwing them straight into this level of rugby.
look at the sharks – butch will play in at least 2 wildebeest matches, and russels been playing most of the season for them. much smarter me thinks – and its not really rocket science is it?
19 Apr 2006, 14:03 pm
Aah so the coach is at last seeing some light.
DWB can only play inside centre – the reasons are clear but it has taken 10 games to work this out. MJ and JDV should have taken turns at outside centre and … could even play JDV on wing (not a great place for him but he has shown he can play there and the current form of the players this would have been a great choice – but WP/Stormers did not want to loose him so let him play inside were he has not really made the plays – his crash balls not as good as DWB as he plays like an extra loose forward giving quick ball for the other backs making them look good).
Bolla also needs to go – his passes are all over the place but Niel is injured something that I have been saying for sometime – so why was Paul Delport not called on? He has not had any game time of note. The flyhalf is not able to call the play when getting balls above his head. It just make the big hit a nice option from the other team – hitting him with arms up high. Nice – I wonder if bolla has taken a hit like that?
As for the forwards – they have play ok (Skeate has had a good year and only got the chance coz Linde was ruled out due to an injury). Loose forwards have not been outstanding but again haad done there job to win balls. It has been the backs that have let the side down – and to top this most of them Boks!!! Problems are wings and fullback. Pietersen at fullback has looked good but given the chop – he was 100 times better than Greef. Nogki, Benjamin and Chavanga have been very dissapointing and have let easy tackles go a miss. Speed they got but they need to catch the ball to use it and how many have they dropped?
This team has really good players but still have not seen any game plan of note – the first few games lost when ‘the plan was to kick ball down to other 22′. Greef did not help with ‘I got ball will kick ball’ At end of season it would be nice to have a break down of what the game plans were for each game …
19 Apr 2006, 14:12 pm
Sad, Sad, Sad. where was I when some one thought that the fastest back in South Africa was a good Fullback. when did he develop a kicking game, an amptetud for first time tackles and enjoy hanging back?? tonderai is a great wing, a truly gifted finisher and total sppedster, why waste him at fullback. it’s understood that both jongi and Rayno are pace wings but honestly tonderai is the don,
As for moving de wet closer to the scrum, great move. Jean has the outside pace to defend the outer channels and can be just as effective on attack in a 13Jersey. as for jouba he’s had a hard time, but you cant drop him to lower division rugby, u wanna be a bok u gotta play with the boks. Brent is doing well at the wildebeests but he’ll never play for SA again, it was a bad move on the Sharks part.
I hope they dont intend on playing peter grant as a kicker ever again, he is the true definition of a Cost_us. naaas is doing well and let him grow. maybe grant as a fullback, a strong base from the back who can kick??
Goodluck to the stormers even though a backline that hot should rely on talent i’ve got a feeling they’ll nedd it!!!
19 Apr 2006, 15:49 pm
DWB return was expected
Someone needs to do some defensive work and you can’t expect the quota back three to do it.
Also to have a chance to win they had to rid of Andrews but then to satisfy the quota requirement Conradie is back, even though Delport is giving Stormers better option.
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