Bash resumes pivotal role
13 Mar 2012
Flyhalf Peter Grant will start his first match of the season when the Stormers host the Blues at Newlands this Friday.
Gary van Aswegen started at No 10 in the Stormers’ first two matches against the Hurricanes and Sharks. While the Cape side won both matches, Van Aswegen struggled to produce a dominant showing and the backline as a collective failed to fire on attack.
While the Stormers still hope that the 22-year-old Van Aswegen will develop into a good flyhalf option, it’s clear Grant is now their main man.
‘Peter is a Springbok and has a lot of experience,’ coach Allister Coetzee said of Grant’s selection. ‘It’s a very good Blues side that we’re up against, and so there’s going to be a lot of pressure in that [flyhalf] channel. Peter has shown it time and again that he can cope with that kind of pressure.’
Grant returned from Japan five days before that Sharks match and was rushed straight into the match 22. He came off the bench in the second half to not only settle the backline but also nail a touchline penalty to win the game.
Despite Grant’s heroics, he may not be utilised as the Stormers’ primary goal-kicker. Fullback Joe Pietersen missed four attempts at goal in that Sharks match, but could still be entrusted with responsibilities for the coming matches.
‘To be honest, I don’t have a definitive answer to that question,’ Coetzee told keo.co.za. ‘It is something that will be decided at the captain’s run on Thursday.’
Coetzee confirmed that lock Rynhardt Elstadt and prop Deon Carstens, who have both been sidelined with injury, will return to action in the Vodacom Cup this weekend. Depending on how they fare, they could be available for the Stormers’ next clash against the Lions.
Meanwhile, team captain Schalk Burger has had the plaster removed from his injured knee and will begin his rehabilitation next week. It was initially said that Burger would be back for the second tour match against the Crusaders, and on Tuesday Coetzee confirmed that things are on track regarding Burger’s return to the playing field.
Stormers – 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Nick Koster, 7 Duane Vermeulen, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Subs: 16 Skara Ntubeni, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Nizaam Carr, 20 Louis Schrueder, 21 Gary van Aswegen, 22 Gerhard van den Heever.
By Jon Cardinelli
344 Comments
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13 Mar 2012, 13:20 pm
6 Stew… Stats on that?? Sharks have beaten them the most and haven’t lost to the Blues for a few years now…
13 Mar 2012, 13:22 pm
Etzebeth’s knees were heavily strapped in previous game , maybe he has a small injury. Also Bekker looks like he is carrying an injury. It might also be a case that players(read Steenkamp) moves elsewhere when they do not get a chance. Should be interesting to see what happened when Elstadt is back. I rate Quinn Roux also very high as lock.! I think he will in future be better than Steenkamp.
Alister please play Elstadt as nr7 when he is fit! I think that is his position. He is just not tall enough as lock. Can’t remember him talking any opposition’s balls.
13 Mar 2012, 13:31 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-42:
the Devils in the music.
Good spot.
13 Mar 2012, 13:43 pm
@Robzim(Robzim)-43:
no rob… not yet…
but will get it… no matter what… have all his albums… nebraska being my favorite…
13 Mar 2012, 13:43 pm
I tend not to buy whole cd’s of one group or artist. After about 3 songs, everything sounds the same.
I prefer to buy greatest hit compilations of different bands, then each song is something fresh.
For example:
I used to really like U2. But by the time you get to Streets Have No Name, you forgot how One, differs from In the Name of Love or With or Without you.
There’s just so much falsetto you can take in any one session before it all blurs together.
13 Mar 2012, 13:49 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-4:
If its rotation what about Tiaan Liedenberg, another all action players that need a rest.
13 Mar 2012, 13:57 pm
Would have dropped Van Aswegen out of match 22 and had Francis on the bench.
Also prefer what I’ve seen of Groom’s play to Schreuder’s.
But the Stormers brains trust seem to rate Van Aswegen and Schreuder highly.
13 Mar 2012, 14:02 pm
For the last couple of years the Stormers always looked good on paper. Well the same story again this year , bluddy good team playing this weekend. Looking forward to this one , this is going to be a cracker. Friday we will see if this team will go forward as one of the bests over the last couple of years. The backline can fire if Grant plays a good game. But yes been building for the last ten years so hopefully we can go all the way this year.
13 Mar 2012, 14:05 pm
Bad news for the Stormers, a Kiwi referee for Friday, the two linemen are Peiper and another Saffa.
No signs of Jonker, Joubert will swindle it for France against Wales
The Sharks drew Kaplan against the Reds, they may look even worse than last week under a straight referee
So it seemed that SANZAR eventually sniffed a rat?
13 Mar 2012, 14:07 pm
For the last and final time Walsh is Australian
Official.
13 Mar 2012, 14:07 pm
@Hondo(Hondo)-59: That is really pathetic Hondo. And you are even repeating your drivel on multiple threads. Quite sad.
13 Mar 2012, 14:08 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-60:
And Stranksy now has some Australian in him..
13 Mar 2012, 14:15 pm
Anyone out there willing to part with their Stormers vs Bulls tickets, 31 March? Need to be good seats.
One at a time now, dont rush…
13 Mar 2012, 14:23 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-60:
It’s Glen Jackson, the former Wasps fly half, not Walsh who is actually from Auckland originally
13 Mar 2012, 14:24 pm
@wpjoulekkading(wpjoulekkading)-61:
You are welcomed to put a wager on the Stormers
13 Mar 2012, 14:26 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-62:
Has he emigrated to Oz?
Followed Gerald Bosch and Uli?
13 Mar 2012, 14:27 pm
@Hondo(Hondo)-66:
Nope. But he sure loves Steve Walsh..
13 Mar 2012, 14:30 pm
I think Fourie du preez should join the Stormers for the remainder of the compo!
13 Mar 2012, 14:31 pm
@Hondo(Hondo)-64:
Are you talking referees or not
13 Mar 2012, 14:33 pm
@Hondo(Hondo)-59: Won’t be a problem for the stormers. Walsh will enjoy his time in CT and will be compensated with a year’s supply of vino, courtesy of the farmers, if the stormers win. Did you think Schalk’s dad was a wynboer for nothing?
13 Mar 2012, 14:52 pm
@THE MAULER(THE MAULER)-51: IMO trying to find the stats but struggling !
13 Mar 2012, 14:58 pm
So glad Grant is back. Van Aswegen wasnt cutting it. Why is Etzebeth on the bench? We need all the physicality we can get to oust these Bull busting Blues!
13 Mar 2012, 15:00 pm
@Taahirah(Taahirah)-63: Are the tickets sold out? i love to go to that game but I am broke and pay day comes to late to be able to buy tickets!
13 Mar 2012, 15:01 pm
@stew(stew)-6:
Erm… Stew…
Your statement: “Good stormers side – of all the SA sides the stormers have had the Blues number in the past” cannot be more incorrect.
Since 1998 the Stormers have played the Blues 14 times, won 6 and lost 8. The Stormers therefore have a negative win/loss ratio against the Blues…
In the same period the Sharks have played the Blues 15 times, won 11 and lost 4. Amazingly, the Sharks are unbeaten against the Blues in their last 7 consecutive games.
13 Mar 2012, 15:01 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-60: No he is not.
13 Mar 2012, 15:05 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-74: well done sharks+
13 Mar 2012, 15:06 pm
@Sasuke(Sasuke)-73: There are a couple of tickets available, crappy seats though, no more than 3 in a group. Wanna go with a couple of mates. Currently hitting Gumtree.
13 Mar 2012, 15:13 pm
COMMENT: Hobbs’ brilliant legacy
Tuesday, 13 March 2012 11:32 p.m.
No-one could ever have criticised the late Jock Hobbs if he had turned his back on rugby twice and gone about other aspects of his life.
Hobbs, the All Black and former chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Union and the organising committee of last year’s Rugby World Cup, died after a battle with leukaemia in Wellington on Tuesday.
As a player he was forced to retire prematurely, due to ongoing concussion problems, and as a consequence he missed out on playing in the inaugural Rugby World Cup.
Hobbs was an openside flanker who played 21 Tests and who captained the side. He came to the fore during Canterbury’s great Ranfurly Shield era of the early 1980s.
But as an administrator, he was dumped by the New Zealand Rugby Union’s annual meeting as a councillor after having been involved in saving rugby from the potential ravages of a severe break-up in the traditional nature of the game after it went professional.
It was in 1995 after the creation of the Tri Nations, Sanzar and the Super 12, as it was then, during the Rugby World Cup in South Africa, that Hobbs and Sir Brian Lochore were at the forefront of the bid to stave off the advances of the World Rugby Corporation that threatened to emasculate the traditional game and the international structure of rugby.
Hobbs and Lochore trooped up and down the country talking to All Blacks and convincing them, finally, to sign with the NZRU, thus saving the All Blacks as an institution.
His reward was an unceremonious dumping by the affiliated unions that was all too typical of the sometimes Kremlin-like NZRU of the amateur era.
So close did rugby come to losing its players, that in his book The Rugby War, Australian writer Peter FitzSimons recounted an instance where the magnitude of the crisis facing the game was hit home to Hobbs when he was told the situation was so bad that “if you previously had one finger on the window ledge, you’re now hanging by half a finger-nail.”
It was Hobbs who, at a vital stage in negotiations with the All Blacks, corralled Sir Brian Lochore to appear at the training run before a Bledisloe Cup Test against Australia so, if they wanted, the players could talk to him.
The then chairman of the NZRU Rob Fisher was quoted by FitzSimons as saying: “BJ [Lochore] could look players in the eye and make them feel embarrassed because they knew what he did not know.”
The effort Hobbs put in may never be fully appreciated by the rugby public at large. But one who worked alongside him during the time, Brendon O’Connor of the NZRU told FitzSimons: “The experience of working with Jock in those extraordinary circumstances illustrated to me what it truly meant to be an All Black.
“The fact that a handful of players might have been tampering with a history, a part of New Zealand society and culture, seemed to hurt him personally…it took an experience like that to make me understand the passion and the courage that it takes to be one [All Black].”
Hobbs, who had had to stress to the full board of the NZRU the level of action that needed to be taken, telling the board at one stage that their meeting could be the last ever held of any significance by the Union, was then defeated for a place on the NZRU board when it was reconfigured from 19 members to nine.
However, when New Zealand lost its co-sharing of the 2003 Rugby World Cup with Australia, the board of the NZRU was rearranged in 2002 and Hobbs was ushered back into the corridors of power and elected chairman of the organisation that had earlier shunned him.
That he was prepared to do that spoke volumes for his passion for rugby in New Zealand.
But Hobbs had the last laugh and returned even stronger to steer the game through some tough years and his crowning glory was New Zealand’s successful bid to stage the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
13 Mar 2012, 15:13 pm
@Taahirah(Taahirah)-77: I had crappy seats for that Stormers vs Sharks. I was sitting behind the dead ball line. Literally in the corner. The play didn’t even come down to that side of the field. still great fun being at Newlands.
13 Mar 2012, 15:15 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-74: Thanks for the stats WS – but i am sure that i have seen recent success for the Stormers against the Blues , anyway good stormers side
13 Mar 2012, 15:32 pm
@stew(stew)-80: The Stormers have won their last 2 games against the Blues, which just so happen to have both been in Auckland. Kudos to them for that.
But it hardly matches 7 games on the trot…
13 Mar 2012, 15:33 pm
On the Stormers site, Etzebeth to start and Kokkie on the bench. Me thinks Jon Cardinelli has got it wrong.
13 Mar 2012, 15:34 pm
I just don’t think Gary Van Kak op ‘n wa is that good. We have better 10′s in the country such as Brummer, Ebersohm, Goosen of which the Stormers can contract. If you look at the quality 10s the New Zealand is pumping out one often wonder why we do not have enough of them around. Look at the kid that played against the blues for the bulls. Came in cold and took the game by the scruff by the neck and in the process made the Springboks premier flyhalf look like nothing more than a club player.
13 Mar 2012, 15:37 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-81: My long term memory is going LOL
13 Mar 2012, 15:39 pm
a Tweet from Dewaldt Duvenage
dewaldtduvenage?@dewaldtduvenageReply
Retweet
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Team vs Blues:Pietersen,Aplon,de Jongh,de Villiers,Habana,Grant,Duvenage,Koster,Vermeulen,Kolisi,Bekker,Etzebeth,Harris,Liebenberg,Kitshoff”
13 Mar 2012, 15:44 pm
@Sremrots(Sremrots)-85: cardinelli smoking his socks then!
13 Mar 2012, 15:46 pm
@Sremrots(Sremrots)-82:
that’s more like it…
and having glen jackson as ref is good… imo…
as the only ex-player of recent vintage in reffing circles i think he’s shown some good understanding as a ref and as tj/asst ref…
13 Mar 2012, 15:48 pm
@Sremrots(Sremrots)-82: Yes I also saw that Etzebeth is starting. On the Stormers website and also on supersport. Good side we will put 10 on them.
13 Mar 2012, 15:58 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-55: Now That’s What I Call Tos 27
That kind of thing?
13 Mar 2012, 16:03 pm
@Sremrots(Sremrots)-82: That makes far more sense.
13 Mar 2012, 16:04 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-67:
I started switching off the commentators a while ago, can’t stand their nonsenses, lack of integrity and adhering to the party line
The hit on Sadie is the case in point: they let it go without a comment
@Dawn(Dawn)-69:
Glen Jackson, former Wasps Flyhalf is the referee for Friday
13 Mar 2012, 16:05 pm
Anyone who’s a fan of Springsteen check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zWmc-8tUmU
Springsteen and John Fogerty singing Pretty Woman.
Nice
13 Mar 2012, 16:07 pm
You’ll also find a clip of them singing Fortunate Son. Also a classic.
13 Mar 2012, 16:11 pm
I would like to see Nizaam Carr getting a start ahead of Koster. He didn’t impress me in the first 2 games and Carr would also be better in the driving mauls. Koster’s running game will not be the best option against the Blues.
13 Mar 2012, 16:12 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-92:
goosebump stuff SB…
two legends…
this is where i have to vehemently disagree with skop…
brooooce ain’t no follower…
they don’t call him the boss for nothing…
and he certainly revolutionized the length of live performances… when everyone else was still doing their one-and-a-bit hour shows… the boss was doing three-and-a-half hour rock fests…!!
13 Mar 2012, 16:21 pm
@ufo(ufo)-95: Springsteen did it his way. The hard way. Songs like The River, Born to Run, even stuff like Born in the USA really captured the feelings around that time of working class people who were struggling, being laid off, towns dying, he tapped into that really well. Legend.
Another artist who i really enjoy who to some extent also did that (small town) is Mellencamp. He also wrote some American classics.
You really can’t compare them to the Dylans etc. They were from a different time.
Legends all of them.
13 Mar 2012, 16:30 pm
Old Skop thinks The Boss is the bloke who rides up front in the bakkie.
Carlos Santana? Boss.
Van Morrison? Boss.
Joe Cocker? Boss.
Bruce Springsteen? Wekka.
13 Mar 2012, 16:34 pm
Skop will moer youse all into the E Street.
13 Mar 2012, 16:36 pm
that why he ain’t no boss man he just a middle of the road follower
Orbison put Springsteen in the shade
If Elvis takes a cover he makes it into a hit.. if Nina Simone take somebody else song she put her own stamp on it, if Hendrix plays Dylan its a Hendrix creation to the core.. if Cocker takes a Lennon – Mcartney tune he turns it into a full blown mega new experience.. If Ray Charles does a number you can know only Ray can turn it on like that..
If Springsteen and Fogerty play Orbison, its a middle of the road cowboy on the range song and dance affair.. nowhere near as good as the original by Orbison himself. Bells and whistles don’t make a shining star.. the star gotta burn brightly by itself and burn itself out doing so…
13 Mar 2012, 16:38 pm
Just talk to a client and said a certain Stormer player just does not produce, he then said that guy is family, oopsie!
Anyway I then said I hate it that Stormers is too defensive in their minds. Slow to attact , etc. He then told me that this Stormer player told him that they do not really want the ball. They wait for the other team to make mistakes.
I can’t believe that a team can have so little self-belief?
So if you want to make money, bet that Stormers will have the least amount of bonus points!
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