Stormers need to smash Sonny Bill
4 May 2011
JON CARDINELLI says the Stormers must turn defence into attack when it comes to marking the all-but-irrepressible Sonny Bill Williams.
There’s a name that encapsulates a strategy and attitude that is absolutely non-negotiable when playing the Crusaders. That name is Shaun Treeby.
Treeby’s been a consistent performer for the resurgent Highlanders, but there is one performance that stands out above the rest. He was a key man in the Highlanders’ recent win over the Crusaders, and will be remembered as the man who made the seemingly invulnerable Sonny Bill Williams look decidedly ordinary.
It was a team effort that led to that upset, and the Highlanders’ forwards should be commended for their telling part in a combative scrap. What was most impressive about the Highlanders’ performance was that the physical fight wasn’t limited to the rucks and set-pieces, but extended to the midfield as well.
The Stormers need to embrace a similar mentality this weekend. They’ve managed some big wins already this season, with their hard-nosed forwards inflicting a physical beating on the Bulls and Sharks, the latter on two separate occasions.
What was notable about the second win against the Sharks was the imposing showing by the Stormers’ centres. Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie were under pressure to produce, and De Villiers especially didn’t disappoint. The Stormers No 12 took the fight to the Sharks, cutting down their space and getting in their faces.
Coach Allister Coetzee has spoken already about stopping the Crusaders at source this Saturday, as limiting the Cantabrians at the set-piece and collisions will go a long way to stifling their dangerous back division. But this can only be seen as phase one of the masterplan, as that back division does have the ability to conjure something out of nothing if they are afforded any sort of space.
The Crusaders will miss Dan Carter. As the statistics will show, Williams and centre-partner Robbie Fruean are more devastating when Carter starts at 10, making the initial breaks or defence-cracking offloads that create further opportunities for the Crusaders’ lethal back three. Having said that, Williams and Fruean are still more dangerous than most when Mat Berquist plays flyhalf.
If the Stormers manage to outmuscle the Crusaders’ forwards, they need to go a step further in cutting down the backline’s space. De Villiers’s personal battle with Williams will be the most influential in this respect, as getting up quickly will prevent the All Black centre from picking up momentum. This will limit his impact on the gain line, and ensure that trademark offload becomes a liability rather than a game-breaking touch. As seen in the Crusaders’ loss to the Highlanders, a spilled offload can create opportunities for the defence.
The Bulls were ignorant in their approach to the Crusaders, claiming Sonny Bill Williams was just another name in a list of 22 that they would have to tackle. The Stormers can’t make the same mistake. They need to win the battle up front, but they also need to pay special attention to nullifying Williams.
He’s scored four tries already this season, but it’s the tries he’s created with his 36 offloads and 10 linebreaks that will attract the most interest. His partnership with Fruean has been particular potent if you consider that the Crusaders’ No 13 has benefited to make 15 linebreaks and score four tries of his own.
The Stormers’ defence will have to look after Williams’s channel and be simultaneously aware of the switch back inside. Lionel Cronje passed a test on defence last week, and given Peter Grant’s ongoing battle with a knee injury, he may have to pass another against the Crusaders.
But as far as the backline defensive blitz goes, it is De Villiers and Fourie that can inflict the most damage. The two Bok centres showed their quality against the Sharks, and while there is ongoing criticism of the Stormers’ attack, they must realise that the team that wins the collisions and contest for territory will win this particular match.
759 Comments
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4 May 2011, 05:52 am
Quite the contrary… Stormer’s need to maintain 60% of all possession… Sader’s will have a combatant to the ‘rush defence’ just as the AB’s do…
Starving Kiwi teams of possession has ‘always’ been the key to winning… not ‘out-moering’…
4 May 2011, 05:53 am
What’s the fascination with Sonny Bill Bollocks? Unless you neutralize the mother of all packs you have no hope of containing the rest. Having said that, the way Richie is reffed will largely determine the outcome.
4 May 2011, 05:54 am
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-1:
That’s a minimum of 60%…
4 May 2011, 05:55 am
I still find it hard to figure out why to date, no team in the Super 15 has really targeted SBW? Everyone knows how devastating he is on attack and especially those off loads. But why hasn’t anyone specifically targeted him and tried to get under his skin? Big macho guys always have an ego, that generally gets the better of them. Get a pod of forwards to charge directly at him ball in hand, with no intent to break the line, just mangle him at the bottom of the ruck with some nice of the ball stuff. Do that a few times and that Maori fuse will be lit and he wont be able to stop himself from trying to be the tough guy himself, could very easily throw him off his game. Like I said, I can’t understand why nobody has tried it so far? Maybe Duane is the man, though I’m sure that will be of his own initiative and not part of the game plan!!!
4 May 2011, 06:34 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-4:
Its a shame Johan Le Roux isn’t still playing he could have bitten one of his ears off, would that make you happy?
4 May 2011, 06:51 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-4:
Probably because most teams should be concentrating on playing the game with ball in hand and winning, rather than focusing on ‘cheap off-the-ball’ incidences risking gifting 3 pt’ers…
As an aside he is of Tongan heritage not Maori…
4 May 2011, 07:11 am
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-5: Ohhhhhh I get it, its alright for All Blacks to bait Bakkies, but its not ok for anyone to bait NZers? Drop the double standards pal. I’m not implying a team goes as far as Umaga and Mealamu went on Brian O’Driscoll in the Lions. Just test his mental fortitude, as it hasn’t been done yet.
4 May 2011, 07:27 am
Sure the offloads are impressive but at least half of those 36 offloads have been forward passes. The refs need to be on the spot and look out for the forward pass. Besides the offloads the balance of SBW’s game is decidedly average. All hot air and over-hyped!!
4 May 2011, 07:27 am
tackler will be here to give is SBW’s vital stats..
jdv will have his hands full, mossie on the other hand can take out fruean if he plays the same smart game he used on a rampant rene ranger last year. he cut down rene’s space & forced him to offload rather than attempt to straighten…
it should be a cracker.
4 May 2011, 07:41 am
Just add loads of pressure. The pack needs to man up. ABs like to get 60% of the possession, anything less and they get frustrated.
Just get in the Saders faces for 80 minutes and the team will nullify any impact SBW has.He is after all only human
4 May 2011, 07:49 am
Pity Carter and Grant is not playing. This is one of the biggest tests for that Crusaders centre pairing. I’ll bet GH will set his alarm clock for this one. JDV and JF is the best we can currently offer against the world. Like I said pity Carter is not there because he will add something different. I still think Richard Kahui will be the ideal partner for Sonny come WC time. Time will tell and let’s hope the Stormers team that played the Reds don’t pitch for this one.
4 May 2011, 07:50 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-7: Bakkies isn’t ever baited. He’s had his not-too-bright brain pumped full of the message that he’s an “enforcer” or, in Afrikaans, “breker” for years already and he thinks this is a really good thing so he wants to live up to his “reputation”. He hasn’t cottoned on yet that this “breker” play is actually ILLEGAL and — while his fans adore it when he gets away with it — the refs reach for yet another card and his team-mates once again play one man short.
And, if there is any off-the-ball illegal niggle with SBW come Saturday, bet your last dollar that NZ ref Chris Pollock will play an ugly card game with the culprits.
4 May 2011, 07:52 am
@kwas(kwas)-2:
What’s the fascination with Macaw?
He hasn’t played more than a few minutes and that hasn’t stopped the Crusaders giving all but the odd other kiwi team a whipping.
4 May 2011, 07:54 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-9: SBW is a pro boxer — like Kevin Skinner in 1956. SBW can look after himself!
But look at how SBW — a test greenhorn with not even one 3N test yet — has the yarpies all reaching for their elephant-guns! He’s THE game-breaker of modern rugby in the mould of the great Jonah Lomu (another Tongan!)
4 May 2011, 07:56 am
Jacque Fourie will be well advised to keep an eye on those offloads. With a rush defence coming up, JdV making the hit, Schalk sealing off the inside channel, you know he’s going to go for the one-handed offload to his outside. In my minds-eye I can allready see JF getting inside Freuen, and running through unopposed. Newlands go wild…
4 May 2011, 08:02 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-4:
Don’t be rascist.
There is no such thing as a Maori fuse, and if there was SBW would be unlikely to have one given that he is not Maori.
And what does “mangling” someone at the bottom of a ruck and targeting them illegally off the ball have to do with “testing mental fortitude”?
Sounds like last resort desparation from someone who doesn’t believe his team is capable of playing winning rugby!!
4 May 2011, 08:07 am
@ricane(ricane)-16: tis how the stormers beat the sharks too , rubbish off the ball stuff , kiwi or aussie ref wont put up with that
4 May 2011, 08:09 am
Concentrating on SBW is abit like what happened with Lomu, you shut him down but the likes of Cullen and co would score.
Breakdowns is where the game will be won. Crusaders turnover possession at will. Nullify this and possession and territory will follow.
4 May 2011, 08:09 am
way off the ball a prop cj hitting lambie behind the head and getting off scott free is how the stormers play
and they dare accuse bakkies of being dirty
i hope cj schalk and elstadt try that against the likes of bakkies ,he wont take their ****
4 May 2011, 08:12 am
@CSI:Rugby(CSI:Rugby)-18: exactly , i think jean himself is good enough to take care of sbw , as each player should play his role
4 May 2011, 08:14 am
If I were the Saders I would perhaps use the same kicking game as the Reds did if the Stormers come with the physical game. The stomers will have to have a plan B to counter this possibility. They looked out of sorts against the Reds.
4 May 2011, 08:17 am
ha HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
and to think, the Safas here have mocked the Kiwis for “over-hyping SBW”.
And yet the ‘journos’ at Keo talk of ‘The SBW Show’ and for the Stormers to have a chance of victory they “need to smash SBW”. 2 stories in succession -> SBW
If only rugby was so simple that teams could just target 1 player and everything else would fall in to place. Normal rugby logic would usually dictate in these circumstances that 1. forward domination would starve the backs, limiting their time and space = limit 12 & 13 incl SBW; or 2. target the base of the pack ie 8 & 9 = limit impact of 12 & 13.
Im sensing a little SBW-paranoia here. Look out for some dummy-runners using SBW as decoy and Guildford/Maitland/Dagg mopping up the points.
4 May 2011, 08:20 am
Stormers vuilgats to take Sushi Bill down to Chinatown.
4 May 2011, 08:23 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-22:
Please, dont paint all the journos here with the Cardinelli brush.
He is the biggest waste of a salary Keo has on this site.
4 May 2011, 08:24 am
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-19: Elkstad already put Bakkies to bed and that at Loftus this year. Dont be a girl , the stormers played well and just like the sharks did to us last year we beat you guys in the collisions and forwards.
Re CJ though I agree , it was a cheap shot and I actually wished he got cited for that as its not the way we should be remembered in a game. He offers sweet niks in the game and got his arse handed to him by the one eyed beast in the game. Always said I dont see the fuss in CJ , he cannot scrum to save his life and lost his explosiveness a while back. Give me Brock any day over him. The sharks scrum by the way looked very good and it was encouraging as it is potentially our WC frontrow that played.
As for SBW , must admit I am a little divided this weekend , support my team 100% and JDV is one of my favorite players but from a rugby perceptive purely SBW stands above everyone and one cannot help but to admire the man and hope to see some more magic from him. Good luck Stormers , hope Jean’s form continues.
4 May 2011, 08:25 am
@John Galt(John Galt)-24:
Ryan Vrede makes Cardinelli look like Bill McLaren.
4 May 2011, 08:25 am
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-17:
Still a bit sour or are you only stirring?
The Sharks (Bizzy and all) are of course like innocent little babies who will never ever get involved in any off the ball stuff and are always as clean as whistles.
Re Elstadt- If I remember correctly Bakkies stayed as far as possible away from him during the first game at Loftus – Elstadt is is bit more of a handfull than Aplon or Cowan and Bakkies knows that.
4 May 2011, 08:26 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-22: I’m pretty sure the stormers coaching staff will be taking all the Crusaders gamebreakers into consideration.
Not sure if we’ll see any SBW offloads in this match though – he’s up against one of the foremost intercept artists in JDV. Would be an unnecessary risk.
4 May 2011, 08:31 am
@Robzim(Robzim)-27:
Bakkies avoided him?
How did he do that?
Did he not return his calls?
Defriend him on Facebook ?
Unfollow him on twitter?
4 May 2011, 08:34 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-4:
Normal SA ‘rugby’ tactics will resume then……if they cant outplay the opposition, bring out the biff. And yet they screamed 4Justice4 BaXXies.
There are countless morons here (morning JL1, Boy George, KKK etc) who would have others believe that Kiwi teams and players are relentless cheats. Ive yet to see ‘off-the-ball’ to injure opposition players as fundatmental tactics being advocated by NZers as a path to victory. HongKongMuirhead is not alone….
“95.KevinRack:
4 May 2011, 05:14 am . I hope the Stormers win and win well. Mccaw will the player to watch. How will the Stormers deal with him. I certainly hope the employ the tactics the Reds used on Brussouw which took him out of the game for a few weeks. You know the off the ball tackles and jersey holding with a few late shots in the ribs.”.
Dear old Kevin and his team of loyal apologists, theyre usually the first to whinge about unfair citing procedures despite sending out the troops with a death-wish.
4 May 2011, 08:35 am
Matt Todd will be the man to watch in the Saders pack. He had a ripper in Perth and goes unnoticed due to his more profiled team mates. Just have to watch the Force game to see that the Saders will use every inch of that paddock to stretch the defensive line. They also score or strike back immediately after the opposition has scored, so restarts is a target by the Saders.
4 May 2011, 08:36 am
@ali(ali)-28:
JdV is undoubtedly the intercept King to Habanas Prince. Hopefully the linesmen will be policing the offside line which tends to limit their impact somewhat.
4 May 2011, 08:41 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-32: wouldn’t be an offside issue if the intercept came from an offload
4 May 2011, 08:41 am
@CSI:Rugby(CSI:Rugby)-31:
Todd was superb wasnt he had more impact than Pocock at the collisions. Todd doesnt look overly big/powerful, which McCaw brings to the party, and reminds me more of a Josh Kronfeld in his style of play.
Id be interested how Todd would go behind a back-peddling pack like Chiefs or Canes instead of a dominant one like Crusaders.
4 May 2011, 08:42 am
The Highlanders were lucky to beat the Saders equivalent of a Vodacom cup side. Using them as a how-to-beat the Crusaders will be wrong.
The interesting match ups for this game will be:
Loosies – Fatty, Flo and Sulk vs Suarez, Whitelock, Read?
Centres – Donkey and Mossie vs Sonny and Freuen
Key to the whole game will be “If the Stormers manage to outmuscle the Crusaders’ forwards”…. I dunno. I think the Stormer forwards may have played a mini final last Sat and may not reach that same intensity this weekend.
The Stormers defensive game plan and style will be tested… If they let up for a few mins or make mistakes against the Saders they will find themselves points down in the blink of an eye. Sure to be game of the weekend.
4 May 2011, 08:42 am
@ali(ali)-33:
?!?
is rugby new to you ?
4 May 2011, 08:43 am
@ricane(ricane)-16: Sorry for upsetting you over the Maori fuse. I’ve actually read that he is of Samoan decent now, but where ever he originates from he appears to be mainly pacific islander. They are renowned for not being able to control their tempers on the rugby pitch and their disciplinary record is horrendous, hence the reference to the fuse. He’s also Muslim, some of them have short fuse’s and can be highly explosive at times…
4 May 2011, 08:45 am
Sunny Bill is an important cog for the Saders, he didn’t feature in their loss against the Blues and Blackadder had him sitting on the bench too long to make any difference against the Highlanders – result 2 losses.
So ja the WP have to ‘target’ him. Expect Elstadt to introduce SBW to some pain, bet on it.
4 May 2011, 08:47 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-29: Bakkies ran in the opposite direction when he came face to face with Elstad and called him Oom LOL. Seriusly though , when u look at that game you will see that Elstad never stood back to Bakkies and actually their little battle was won by the youngster , no doubt Bakkies will be out to remind him who is the enforcer come the Newlands clash but I said from day 1 I like the look of this Elstad lightie and along with Josh Strauss is the future of SA rugby Loosies. Elstad is actually a flank.
4 May 2011, 08:47 am
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-17: there you go again.
4 May 2011, 08:48 am
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-19: sour grapes
cowboys dont cry
4 May 2011, 08:49 am
BP agree,
Kronfeld style openside. I would not mind if they put McCaw at 6 and Reid back at 8, or vice versa.
4 May 2011, 08:50 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-30: You’re only bullshitting yourself if you think only SA rugger supporters think Kiwis sail a bit close to the laws of the game… Its not so much the physicality but the niggly obstructive and sometimes deceitful nature of Kiwis on a rugger field… Some could say it is not an entirely brave and honourable way to play the game. Jock Hobbs soccer dive against BI Lions comes to mind…
4 May 2011, 08:51 am
The Stormers have a few things going for them. The Crusaders were anything but impressive against the Force. Travel does play a part is another. The Stormers lineout just gets better & this is a key platform for them to attack & of course maul. No Dan Carter is the obvious one. 50K supporters. The Crusaders have the SBW factor but also the best wings in the tournament. They also have the best front row and Ritchie will be better this week after getting some game time plus all the injured forwards are back. I still think the Stormers may have the edge. Very very close.
4 May 2011, 08:51 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-37: U a farkin prejudice idiot and Keo can ban me for swearing !! If we go according to your logic then most catholics are pedophiles ! Fokkit maar som mense is dik !
4 May 2011, 08:52 am
cj hurt the sharkies ….LOL…CJ was the unsung hero….had all the sharkies ducking and diving for cover….especially Plod….whi i see now goes on another couple of weeks holiday.
4 May 2011, 08:52 am
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-29:
Naw, he just did not make a nuisance of himself whenever Elstadt was close by- did you not see how he pretended not to notice when Elstadt manhandled that little blue bull flanker who does not understand the rules?
4 May 2011, 08:53 am
Dam idiots just spoil it for you sometimes , outa here till later.
4 May 2011, 08:53 am
@grant10(grant10)-41:
Ja Grantie and gentleman don’t gloat!
4 May 2011, 08:54 am
I wish the Sharks fans could just wipe their eyes and backsides and just move on. You all sound like those guys who got blocked during the Booty Dash at the end of a party!
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