Bulls set for Stormers ‘Test’
26 Mar 2012
Frans Ludeke says their clash with the Stormers will be ‘like a Test in every way’.
The north-south derby at Newlands on Saturday sees the unbeaten Stormers pitted against a Bulls side who have surpassed expectations after a mass exodus of senior players. They smashed the Reds 61-8 at the weekend and victory would see them leapfrog the Stormers in the SA conference.
On a winning streak and in front of their loyal supporters, the Stormers must be considered favourites. However, they will face stern opposition against an extremely efficient and well-coached outfit who have largely exhibited composure under pressure thus far, retaining faith in their trusted method.
That method is one the Stormers have replicated in recent years. Gone are the days when they thrilled with cavalier attacks from deep in their territory. They now prefer a pragmatic kick-chase approach and back their defence – excellent for three seasons – to pressure the opposition into turnovers or infringements.
This fixture used to be a clash of contrasting styles. Now it is a test of patience and execution between sides who mirror each other tactically. That pattern will strongly resemble one seen in Test matches, Ludeke said.
‘The last few games have been won by the team who has been excellent at the fundamentals – a solid set phase, sustained accuracy in defence, well-placed tactical kicks and making your chances count,’ Ludeke told keo.co.za. ‘This match is going to be like a Test in every way.
‘We’ve lost concentration at times at Newlands in the last couple of years and the Stormers have punished us. In matches like these errors are amplified because teams are so switched on that they simply don’t make many. The teams are so well matched, neither give you an inch, that, like a Test, it could come down to goal kicking.’
Asked what the key performance areas would be, Ludeke offered: ‘The forward battle is crucial to win. Dominating that gainline gives you the chance to control and shape the match. It becomes very hard when you’re losing the tackle fight. The Stormers are the best team in the tournament in this regard. We know we will have to lift our game at the gainline hugely.’
The Bulls come into the match still buzzing from the confidence gained from their demolition of the defending champions at Loftus on Saturday. They were slow to find their stride but gradually got going and converted the majority of the scoring opportunities they created. Ludeke said he was encouraged by their slickness.
‘I had the sense that if everything came together we are capable of a result like that,’ he said. ‘The guys were really focussed in the build-up to that game and they won’t need any motivation for the Stormers. They won’t offer us as many opportunities as the Reds did so we can’t waste the few that will come.’
By Ryan Vrede
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26 Mar 2012, 10:04 am
I’m looking forward to Keo’s BD column, once it gets posted here. Let’s see if I can track it down elsewhere.
Ah here it is:
MARK KEOHANE
Published: 2012/03/26 08:10:06 AM
THE Stormers may be the only unbeaten team in the Super 15 but they are looking no better than they did in 2010 and last year, where they relied on defence to get to the playoffs but never had the attacking game to win the tournament.
Defensively the Stormers were again colossal in defying the Lions, but the lack of attacking edge is looking all too familiar for a side whose players draw too much inspiration from making a tackle and not enough from making a break.
Springbok wing Bryan Habana is again turning half chances into points and the set piece is as strong as the team’s defensive desire, but there needs to be greater emphasis on attack if the Stormers are to challenge seriously for their first championship win.
The Bulls are the most complete and balanced of the South African contenders and their ruthlessness is unmatched in this year’s tournament. Twice in five weeks they’ve created the opportunity to demolish the opposition and they’ve been uncompromising in delivering the most lethal of finishes.
The Reds were never going to win in Pretoria. Injury has hurt the Queenslanders’ title defence, flyhalf and playmaker Quade Cooper is hugely missed and the players are finding the wearing of the crown decidedly tougher than the 2011 chase to attain it.
They would never have envisaged conceding 61 points and taking a 53-point beating, and for all the extenuating circumstances the scars of this defeat won’t heal easily. I’d be surprised to see them win the tournament this year. They don’t have the depth to counter the injury situation and so far they haven’t enjoyed the good fortune of last year.
I also can’t see the Stormers winning the title, which doesn’t mean they can’t suffocate the Bulls at Newlands this weekend and score a laboured once-off victory. Home-ground comforts remain an advantage in this tournament, but so do bonus points for scoring four-try wins.
The Stormers will always be tough to beat because their mind-set is that of a team that plays not to lose, instead of playing to win. But the manner of victory should no longer be in duping their supporters into believing that the style of play is capable of delivering silverware. It isn’t.
The Bulls are playing with expression and belief, and incumbent Bok flyhalf Morné Steyn has profited from the bulldozing dominance of his team-mates in contact and at the set piece.
Steyn is showing that he can control a game with more than his boot, but the criticism that he has limitations when there is no forward momentum remains as valid as it was a year ago.
He is playing with greater enjoyment than he did a year ago and if his form holds until June, he will start for the Boks against England, with Pat Lambie, Johan Goosen and Elton Jantjies providing options. It has been a long time since the country’s stocks at flyhalf have been this high.
Goosen continues to scamper up the ladder in his first season in Super Rugby, although his decision to end the game against the Crusaders with a kick to touch was a contradiction of his talent. He offers too much as a player to adopt such a defeatist and conservative mind-set and hopefully his team-mates gave him a blast at the final whistle.
The Cheetahs, the people’s favourites in New Zealand as much as they are in SA, are still too content with coming second. The same is true of the Lions, who lost again at home.
How long can a team be young? How long can players be commended for their character in a losing cause? How many more Super Rugby excuses for SA’s domestic champions?
Every team suffers injury. Every team battles hardship in this tournament, but there comes a time when a team must be judged on how many games — and not friends — they win.
And that time has surely come for the Lions.
They have the game and the players to defeat the Crusaders in Johannesburg this weekend, just as the Stormers have the mentality to beat the Bulls.
Both results are possible but I am not as convinced of the possibility that the Stormers or the Lions can be potential championship winners.
To convince me that it can be any other way, the Stormers have to change the way they win games and the Lions have to start winning some games. Ditto the Cheetahs and Sharks.
As for the Bulls … don’t change a thing
26 Mar 2012, 10:07 am
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-51:
Killjoy!!!
26 Mar 2012, 10:08 am
Shame you just stole all his thunder
26 Mar 2012, 10:08 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-48: oh thanks. the xterra was 1.5k swim 27k mtb and 11.5k run. i nearly fooking died – did it on very little training. that run is a *****.
26 Mar 2012, 10:11 am
@pompies2(pompies2)-45: spot on.
26 Mar 2012, 10:12 am
@the peanut gallery(peanut)-50: I think that most of the guys will come into their own as the race progresses, it’s not really a race for technical specialists but more for those who can grind out the long climbs.
26 Mar 2012, 10:17 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-56: true
26 Mar 2012, 10:19 am
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-51: I can’t argue with anything he says.
I hope he’s wrong about the Stormers game, but it’s not likely.
26 Mar 2012, 10:26 am
@the peanut gallery(peanut)-54: I can imagine!
I have no interest whatsoever in running that far, especially not if it has any of the routes that we ran.
The swim and the bike sound OK.
But not the run.
Hell no.
26 Mar 2012, 10:28 am
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-51: i’d temper those accolades for the Bulls. For me, there was much more to see from the Cheetahs performance vs the Crusaders. While i still think Naka conceded defeat with selecting his run on side, they surprised me with their general play. I’m going to make a bold claim and say the Cheetahs have the best backline ito skill exectution. Running at pace into space and passes which are accurate shows that when executing those skills well, any opposition will struggle.
I can for the life of me not understand Goosen’s decision to kick the ball into touch. I’d go as far as to say that it is a mental weakness that makes to take a decision like that and such a weakness has no place in international rugby.
26 Mar 2012, 10:29 am
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-51: funny keo points out that the reds don’t have the depth when ewen mckenzie’s been widely quoted going on about how much he has the “depth” issue figured out
26 Mar 2012, 10:46 am
@pompies2(pompies2)-60:
yes, i thought that perhaps it was another stadium clock failure which might have lead him to believe there was still time to contest at a lineout..?.. was very, very confused by that kick..?.. the way teams still hung around looking at each other and the officias for confirmation suggests there may be something in this..?..
if not then it was ****** stupid of him.
26 Mar 2012, 10:50 am
@welcome to my life, hugh…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-62: what makes it more strange is that just a week before, the played into the 84th minute to win the game. Does this mean they were not psychologically tuned into winning this game before they even started. How do you decide to take a losing bonus point when a draw is a possibility?
26 Mar 2012, 10:53 am
@pompies2(pompies2)-60:
also, there was lots of grounds for penalty infringments by the the crusaders in the last ten minutes, especially the last five, the way they were going off their feet at the breakdowns as well crusader players taking up positions a few feet ahead of the player going to ground and taking positions on the oppositions side of the ruck, also, players stepping into and ‘trying’ to exit the ruck/breakdown on the cheetahs side.
the ref relly should have blown them a number of times on their attack in those last few minutes and i hope a review will come out of the refs performance in this game.
26 Mar 2012, 11:15 am
The Bulls against the Stormers is a big game no?
26 Mar 2012, 11:17 am
excuse the presentation… cut n paste and tab for yourself…
Player/Games/ Minutes/ Tackles/ Tack per Game/ Min per Tack/ MissedTack/ Runs/ Metres/ RuckMauls/ RM per Game/ Pen/ Pen per Game/ Turnovers/ T per Game
Greyling/4/272/24/6.00/11.33/5/18/93/19/4.75/8/2.00/1/0.25
Ralepelle/4/240/30/7.50/8.00/3/7/23/10/2.50 /0/0/6/1.50
Kruger/4/307/20/5.00/15.35/4/7/27/5/1.25/7/1.75/3/0.75
Coenie/3/193/32/10.67/6.03/0/19/93/21/7.00/6/2.00/4/1.33
Strauss/5/406/21/4.20/19.33/5/7/196/44/8.80/4/0.80/11/2.20
Nel/4/287/35/8.75/8.20/3/22/56/20/5.00/11/2.75/0/0.00
Caylib/2/163/15/7.50/10.90/1/15/53/14/7.00/1/0.50/1/0.50
Visagie/4/270/15/3.80/18.00/3/16/74/14/3.50/0/0/12/3
Cilliers/3/243/27/9.00/9.00/4/22/105/21/7.00/5/1.66/2/0.66
Chadwick/5/404/49/9.80/8.24/12/12/25/15/3.00/6/1.20/2/0.40
Bismarck/5/404/44/8.80/9.18/10/33/112/40/8.00/10/2.00/10/2.00
Jannie/5/232/14/2.80/16.57/3/7/25/10/2.00/1/0.20/1/0.20
Kitshoff/4/323/35/8.75/9.23/10/57/9/2.25/2/0.50/2/0.50
Liebenberg/4/308/28/7.00/11.00/32/139/30/7.50/4/1.00/5/1.25
Harris/4/206/29/7.25/7.10/10/58/10/2.50/1/0.25/0/0
Malherbe/4/118/18/4.50/6.56/3/12/3/0.75/3/1.00/2/0.66
26 Mar 2012, 11:20 am
Looseheads
Most tackles: Chadwick (49), Kitshoff (35), Coenie (32)
Tackle every so many minutes: Coenie (6.03), Chadwick (8.24), Kitshoff (9.23)
Most missed Tackles: Chadwick (12), Greyling (5), Caylib (1)
Least missed tackles: Coenie (0), Kitshoff (0)
Rucks/Mauls: Coenie (21), Greyling (19), Chadwick (15)
Penalties: Greyling (8), Coenie (6), Chadwick (6)
Turnovers: Coenie (4), Chadwick (2), Kitshoff (2)
Tightheads:
Most tackles: Nel (35), Harris (29), Kruger (20)
Tackle every so many minutes: Malherbe (6.56), Harris (7.10), Nel (8.20)
Most missed Tackles: Chadwick (12), Kruger (4), Cilliers (4)
Least missed tackles: Harris (0), Malherbe (0)
Rucks/Mauls: Cilliers (21), Nel (20), Harris/Jannie (10)
Penalties: Nel (11), Kruger (7), Cillers (5), Malherbe (4), Harris/Jannie (1)
Turnovers: Kruger (3), Cilliers (2), Jannie (1)
Hookers:
Most tackles: Bismarck (44), Ralepelle (30), Liebenberg (28)
Tackle every so many minutes: Ralepelle (8.00), Bismarck (9.18), Liebenberg (11.00)
Most missed Tackles: Bismarck (10), Strauss/Liebenberg (5)
Least missed tackles: Ralepelle/Visagie (3)
Rucks/Mauls: Strauss (44), Bismarck (40), Liebenberg (30),
Penalties: Bismarck (10), Strauss/Liebenberg (4)
Turnovers: Visagie (12), Strauss (11), Bismarck (10)
26 Mar 2012, 11:34 am
@Getafix(phil72)-28: Always rated Wepenaar from his Lions days – good player and should be developed – i suppose his stint in France didnt go to well ?
26 Mar 2012, 11:37 am
I may be a bit dof, but can someone explain how the Bulls can be forth on the log with 19 points behind the Chiefs and Brumbies with 18 and 17 respectively. Am I missing something?
26 Mar 2012, 11:41 am
@ufo(ufo)-67: Notice SA top tighthead Jannie is not even mentioned – suppose he is busy doing TV commercials – overrated is an understatement
26 Mar 2012, 11:45 am
@welcome to my life, hugh…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-64: And the bull S*h*i*t uncontested scrums ??? notice nothing about that – if you saffas are scared to scrum dont play rugby , completely negated our advantage
26 Mar 2012, 11:46 am
@TruBlu(TruBlu)-69:
first 3 places go to the conference leaders…
then comes the rest…
yes… not fair… but that’s how the aussies manipulated things to ensure they always get at least one team to the playoffs…
(which if course they won last year…)
26 Mar 2012, 12:03 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-42: Wors = Dean Greyling
26 Mar 2012, 12:31 pm
UFO. Thanks for helping me. Talk about a comunist plot. That’s almost as bad as match fixing.
26 Mar 2012, 12:35 pm
@TruBlu(TruBlu)-69: is this ur first year of watching super rugby?
26 Mar 2012, 12:38 pm
@TruBlu(TruBlu)-74:
plezsh…
26 Mar 2012, 12:50 pm
@TruBlu(TruBlu)-74: It is just as bad. Not quite match fixing, but here we have Log Fixing (TM).
26 Mar 2012, 13:26 pm
@stew(stew)-71:
as if the cheetahs would intentionally engineer uncontested scrums..?..
it was flippin injury enforced whereas the crusaders just cheat, you one-eyed git…
26 Mar 2012, 13:38 pm
First time Super 15 watcher. The conference issue is a bit confusing but thanks to you guys I’m sure I’ll get to understand sooner or later. Seems the Aussies will get the benefit here. Another tech question. How do I get the @Name-Comment number to work? I’m a bit of a toppie but love rugby.
26 Mar 2012, 13:42 pm
It is going to be an extremely physical game and the margin of victory wont be that big. Ludeke says it will be like a test match well Ludeke do you know where the game is won in Test matches. In the Forward exchanges and in my humble opinion the Stormers shade the Bulls in that regard.
26 Mar 2012, 13:46 pm
@ufo(ufo)-72: I think the Aussies will only get 1 team in the play-offs this year with either the New Zealanders or the South Africans getting 3 teams in the play-off.
@TruBlu(TruBlu)-79: Click on the little grey arrow on the right
26 Mar 2012, 13:59 pm
@Sasuke(Sasuke)-81: Thanks. Never too old to learn new tricks.
BTW I started playing Super Bru and I’m doing better on my picks that the two guys from Keo.
26 Mar 2012, 14:06 pm
@ufo(ufo)-66:
Where that Stats came from, what is the source?
S African? NZ? SANZAR?
26 Mar 2012, 14:08 pm
@TruBlu(TruBlu)-82: Cool. lol Ja they suck!
26 Mar 2012, 15:12 pm
I miss the North South game of old
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