Bulls to borrow Stormers’ blueprint
18 Mar 2010
The Bulls analysed the Stormers’ victory over the Hurricanes closely and believe they modelled the path to success.
The Stormers built their 37-13 defeat of the Canes on uncompromising defence and incisive attack. It is the former facet of play that Bulls backline coach Pieter Rossouw was most impressed with.
Rossouw’s side has struggled in this area, conceding an average of 3.75 tries per match. Their attacking prowess has served to veil their defensive shortcomings, but Rossouw believes they will improve on Friday, and says the Stormers’ defensive display has given them insight into how to beat the Canes.
‘They’re [the Canes] a wonderfully gifted attacking side, and if they get momentum, particularly under the new law interpretations at the breakdown, they can be unplayable,’ Rossouw told keo.co.za.
‘What the Stormers did well from a defensive perspective is commit very few men to the rucks. This allowed them to fan out in defence and put double hits on the Canes’ primary ball carriers. The effectiveness was in the accuracy of the execution and when two defenders are hitting you powerfully you are going to struggle to recycle the ball quickly.
‘That stifled the Canes’ momentum and they often played well behind the advantage line. We’re not in the business of copying other teams, but at the same time it would be foolish to ignore the effectiveness of the tactic.’
Rossouw also praised the Stormers’ kicking game, explaining that it forced the Canes to attack from deep within their territory and when they did, the hosts’ defensive line was near impenetrable.
‘People perceive the Stormers to be this all-out running side, but statistically they’ve kicked more than anyone in the tournament,’ he said.
‘Their kicking game allowed them to play the game in the right areas of the field and they backed their defence to pressure the Canes into mistakes. It was a pretty clinical performance, and one that we’ll be looking to replicate and perhaps better.’
Bulls head coach Frans Ludeke told keo.co.za that there were ‘no excuses’ for their indifferent defensive performances, stressing that they would have to improve significantly in the weeks ahead.
‘We haven’t been good enough defensively. It’s one of the pillars of our game we’ve built our success on and we have to address the issues there, particularly our defence from broken field situations and lapses in concentration.
‘We respect the Canes’ ability with ball in hand and we know that they will be the measure of whether we have improved or not. We’ve put a lot of emphasis on defence this week and are hoping that the fruits show on Friday.’
By Ryan Vrede
526 Comments
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18 Mar 2010, 17:08 pm
@ufo: lol just saw this now… do I give a thank you speech Oscar style?
18 Mar 2010, 17:08 pm
@Karen: I know a guy who had the measurement of his biceps tattooed on them. He is a strange person.
18 Mar 2010, 17:10 pm
@WOLFMAN21: Hahahaha well I hope his biceps was a decent measurement
18 Mar 2010, 17:10 pm
@Karen: ja because that won’t be weird at all…
Term 1 is actually done for me! Business outing for the whole day tomorrow! And then public holiday… and then camp
18 Mar 2010, 17:12 pm
@SpringbokSarah: Avoid those dudes who take booze on the school camp – got myself a week of detention once by hanging out with those types.
18 Mar 2010, 17:13 pm
@WOLFMAN21: what? To prove when they deflated that they were once upon a time awesome?
18 Mar 2010, 17:13 pm
@SpringbokSarah: Hey lucky you – well a long weekend coming up which is cool. I think I need to go back to school to get holidays
Business outing – mmmmm ok who are you targeting tomorrow (just kidding).
18 Mar 2010, 17:14 pm
@WOLFMAN21: what part of private school do you not understand?
18 Mar 2010, 17:15 pm
@SpringbokSarah: Well here are quite a few bloggers who would probably tattoo their IQ’s on their foreheads but the only problem is it would be a 1 digit number
18 Mar 2010, 17:16 pm
@Karen: roflmao! who would I target?
18 Mar 2010, 17:16 pm
@WOLFMAN21: You rebel you
18 Mar 2010, 17:16 pm
@SpringbokSarah: Yeah fair enough, I went to a state school in da ghetto, so there were all types of misfits around to negatively influence me!
18 Mar 2010, 17:16 pm
@SpringbokSarah: Hahaha hey you have the little black book lol
18 Mar 2010, 17:18 pm
@Karen: Sad thing is I didn’t even have a sip of the alcohol which got me in trouble! I did consider wearing a “Justice 4 Wolfman” armband like the Spingboks, but that didn’t seem to help them, so I doubt it would have helped me!
18 Mar 2010, 17:19 pm
@Karen: roflmao!
@WOLFMAN21: neh don’t have that kind of issue at school… they’re just weird
@Karen: lol and who’s name is at the top of the 1st page?
18 Mar 2010, 17:22 pm
@WOLFMAN21: Lol
@SPRINGBOKSARAH – I think he is running around outside the borders of SA
18 Mar 2010, 17:23 pm
@Karen: who? Luke? Why would he be on my hit list?
18 Mar 2010, 17:23 pm
@Karen: Is that filed under W or L?
18 Mar 2010, 17:25 pm
@SpringbokSarah: You have a hit list and then you have a hit list – a nice hit list of people you want and then the evil one – the people you want to wipe off the face of the earth lol
@Wolfman21 – Geez Sarah would know under what he is filed – I think at the moment he is filed from A to Z
18 Mar 2010, 17:27 pm
@Karen: roflmao! No, Luke’s not on any list… but he’s coming back (FOR A HOLIDAY) in May which I’m totally excited for
18 Mar 2010, 17:29 pm
@SpringbokSarah: Hahahaha and I can believe you are excited. Well I am out of here until later. Have a fabulous evening
18 Mar 2010, 17:30 pm
@Karen: you too
Actually Wolf21 I need to get going too… nice chatting to you
18 Mar 2010, 21:17 pm
Provvas
in fact, Jeff Wilsons favourite & best sport was neither rugby nor cricket nor athletics, despite National honours for all if them. He was a sensational basketballer, play for NZ u20s as a 15/16yr old, and stated it as his favourite game. It was his biggest regret giving it up to concentrate on rugby & cricket. He singlehandedly beat Aus in a ODI as an 18yr old at Seddon Park (I was there), unbelievable !
The other young Kiwi speed merchant was, of course, Jonah Lomu. He recorded 10.85secs for the 100m as a 17yr old. Legend has it that was also bare feet, but Im not sure of that. Dont forget that by that age he was also 6’5″ and 18st !
But I can confirm his allround athletic prowess
as he competed at my local athletics club and
was the NZ Schools Decathlon Champion. In fact he was so good that rugby took a back seat at that time, we had high hopes he would make it to the Olympics. The crazy thing was his size/muscle bulk should have negated his performance, for eg the High Jump, but he just made it look so easy. Scary mo fo…..
19 Mar 2010, 08:13 am
Can someone help me with something. Is Juandre Kruger a Victor or a Bakkies or a Bekker(combination of both)?
19 Mar 2010, 11:56 am
Its one thing to run fast on a tarck and a completly different thing to run fast on a rugby field with a rugby ball in your hand.
Stats are just that stats , according to stats this year Doppies Le Grange is the best centre in the S14 , Luke Watson would have been the best loosie by a country mile for the last few seasons etc etc.
Van De Heever is fast no doubt , he scored a good try against the front row last week but he aint no Habana. End of story.
19 Mar 2010, 11:57 am
@iori Yagami: I think he is more of a Juandre Kruger……….:)
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