Stormers won’t end trophy drought
26 Mar 2012
MARK KEOHANE, in his weekly Business Day column, says the Stormers don’t have what it takes to win this year’s Super Rugby tournament.
The Stormers may be the only unbeaten team in Super Rugby but they are looking no better than they did in 2010 and last year, where they relied on defence to get to the play-offs 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 mindset 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 mindset 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.
355 Comments
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26 Mar 2012, 13:49 pm
oeps !quaranteed- guaranteed
.
26 Mar 2012, 13:53 pm
haaa Keo you are too fickle mate. Jumping on the Bulls bandwagon now.
I think the Stormers have got what it takes to win the S15. They have great defence, efficient scrum and lineout, they dominate teams at the tackle point. They have the kicking game to play a good territorial game in the opponents half and they have good goal kickers. There is still time to get the backline to gel to produce more fluid attacking plays.
I think they will just pip the rampaging Bulls this weekend with good defence and a better forward pack.
26 Mar 2012, 13:58 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-146:
lmao
oh tac, you have such a way with words…
26 Mar 2012, 14:06 pm
@welcome to my life, hugh…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-153:
I was wondering what exactly he was describing there ……………………….
26 Mar 2012, 14:10 pm
Stormers has done exceptionally well over the past 10 years or so, they play not to loose and have been consistently in the top half of the log….. but to win this compo, you have to play to win….It will never happen!!!!!!
26 Mar 2012, 14:11 pm
I see the Bulls are indeed gonna be in pink this weekend.
26 Mar 2012, 14:17 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-156: That will lull the Stormers into a false sense of security
.
26 Mar 2012, 14:17 pm
Stormers should play 6. Kolisi 7. Elstadt 8. Vermeulen with Koster off the bench.
Combined with the current tight 5, I cant many teams dominating that pack.
26 Mar 2012, 14:20 pm
@bananaboy(bananaboy)-157: It will be very distracting indeed. Most of them will be thinking of who to approach for a jersey swop afterwards instead of focusing on how to tackle big Flippie without breaking stuff.
26 Mar 2012, 14:20 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-156: Just got myself a pink jersey, fiancé brought it from Pretoria on Saturday.
Incredibly difficult to get hold of!
Tried every sports shop in Cape Town, everyone was sold out.
26 Mar 2012, 14:23 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-156:
Why?
They didn’t play in pink in Bloem!
26 Mar 2012, 14:25 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-154:
just riveting…wonderful, wonderful stuff….
26 Mar 2012, 14:25 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-161:
Apparnetly there’s a clash in jersey colours with the Stormers – copycats – and so we will use our away colours.
I reckon it is just a marketing ploy to get the pink brigade in Cape Town to buy some Bulls jerseys – and maybe even convert. The Pink Rands have significant buying power in SA.
One look at Wynand in a pink jersey and we’ll have half of Cape Town’s male population converted to Bulls fans.
26 Mar 2012, 14:26 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-161: it’s the proverbial dangling the carrot in front of the CT supporters to jump the sinking drag queen float and join the Bloubul lager.
26 Mar 2012, 14:26 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-161: More importantly, do you,/i> have your pink jersey Dawn?
Do your parents know you’ve crossed over?
26 Mar 2012, 14:28 pm
close italics
26 Mar 2012, 14:29 pm
The new Dawn greets us in a brilliant display of pink.
26 Mar 2012, 14:34 pm
Duvenhage was so utterly hondkak I’d be gobsmacked if he started again…and combined with the grey man Grant you wonder why the Stormers backline is so impotent….
26 Mar 2012, 14:34 pm
“the Stormers don’t have what it takes to win this year’s Super Rugby tournament.”
Not in my lifetime as well.
26 Mar 2012, 14:34 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-163: You coming to watch the game Tac?
26 Mar 2012, 14:35 pm
Wonder what all the poor inbred half-wit Cape Crusaders are gonna do this weekend…
26 Mar 2012, 14:36 pm
and by poor i mean as in pitiful, not low income
before anyone jumps in there
26 Mar 2012, 14:38 pm
@Atreides(Atreides)-172: Racist.
26 Mar 2012, 14:39 pm
@Atreides(Atreides)-170:
No this time, unfortunately. Will be a great game though, I reckon.
My earnest wish is that it isn’t decided by a yellow or red card. Let the players decide this one, not the ref, please.
26 Mar 2012, 14:39 pm
hehehehe
26 Mar 2012, 14:41 pm
I firmly believe we have capacity to put away WP by a Big score if Hougard and Steyn dictate the game. Spies needs to put a back to back MOM performance and run All Day at Korster and Grant.
26 Mar 2012, 14:44 pm
Stormers by 10 on Saturday. There you have it.
And you don’t pick the winning team after round 5 Keo. Did you pick the Reds to win it last year after round 5?
And all you supporters, grow some balls. The Stormers are the most crictized of all the SA teams. They are doing fine, winning games.
The biggest problem last saturday was NOT the backline, who got ball in their 22 most of the time bar the first 20 min. It was the lack of someone competing for the ball. This stand-off defence is fine, but someone needs the “go get the ball” brief when they drive the other side back.
26 Mar 2012, 14:45 pm
Wonder how the preperation approach of the two teams will differ during the week?
Judging by the two contrasting coaching boxes, the one group will probably go about their business as usual, while the other is taken on some Kamp Staaldraad re-enactment out to Robben Island, and forced to do 100m swimming heats down Shark alley to build “character and a desire for success”.
And that’s just the coaching team..
26 Mar 2012, 14:48 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-178: If they release Proudfoot into the Atlantic, you’ll have the Skoppies of the world out there in rubber ducks, trying to tow him further out to prevent him from beaching again.
26 Mar 2012, 14:49 pm
In the last 2 years the Stormers increased their play-off appearances from 2 times to 5 times. They look good to add more this year.
And the fans sound like they are bottom of the log. Really people, get a life.
Will the Stormers win this year? Maybe. Are they favourites? Probably not. Do they have a decent chance? Yes they do, and that is something to cheer about.
26 Mar 2012, 14:50 pm
@Brentie1(Brentie1)-150: you mean mt R3 million per annum Butch? he was supposed to start for the Bokke @ the World Cup, it was a fact
26 Mar 2012, 14:52 pm
@wpjoulekkading(wpjoulekkading)-180: Never been very hot at maths, but even I know that you cannot make three play-off appearances in two years. Julius, is that you?
26 Mar 2012, 14:52 pm
All I can say is it a sad day for WP when bulls are favourites at newlands…
26 Mar 2012, 14:53 pm
We will win by 15+
Steyn will bring back the Drop (3 maybe?) – its being a while.
26 Mar 2012, 14:53 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-182: 2 semi-finals and 1 final = 3 play-off appearances.
Think much?
26 Mar 2012, 14:53 pm
@Atreides(Atreides)-171:
Yes, “poor” is the offensive bit there…
26 Mar 2012, 14:53 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-179:
Ja, either that or the Yoshin Maru will detoir through False Bay on its way back to port.
P.S.
I hope it’s False Bay. I always get confused between that and Table Bay. Never know which is which. And I always get lost in Cape Town. I’m used to the sea being on my one side and everything else being vaguely “north” of that. Easy navigation.
In Cape Town, the sea keeps changing position, and the mountain keeps changing appearance, depending on where you are.
Very confusing without a GPS.
26 Mar 2012, 14:54 pm
I predict a few Yellow Cards will be shown.
26 Mar 2012, 14:54 pm
@wpjoulekkading(wpjoulekkading)-185: That’s a unique approach, to count the semis and the finals from the same year as 2 play-off appearances. Creative stats much?
26 Mar 2012, 14:55 pm
@Getafix(phil72)-183:
So you saying it’s been a sad 10 years then..
26 Mar 2012, 14:57 pm
@wpjoulekkading(wpjoulekkading)-185:
Whole mindset is wrong… not about how many times you lost the compo, it is about how many time you won it…
26 Mar 2012, 14:59 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-189: So how would your recommend to indicate the fact that a final is worth more than a semi? Really, you are missing the point trying to be sarcastic drol. And you are not managing the sarcastic part.
I’ll spell it out:
Stormers pre-2010:
2 semi-finals
Stomers 2010&2011
2 semi-finals
1 final
Is it a trophy yet? no. Is it something to be optimistic about? Hell yes.
26 Mar 2012, 15:00 pm
@Atreides(Atreides)-171:
Ja you racist
26 Mar 2012, 15:00 pm
@Getafix(phil72)-191: There is nothing wrong with my mindset. I would love to win the competition. All I’m saying is the Stormers are finally on an upward curve, and they deserve some support along the way.
26 Mar 2012, 15:01 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-187:
Wat nou!
How can you get lost in CT
I’ll show you around.
26 Mar 2012, 15:02 pm
@wpjoulekkading(wpjoulekkading)-194:
From finalist to semifinalist doesn’t look like an upward curve in my book.
It’s a curve, I’ll give you that. But that’s about where we start diverging in our respective descriptions of the situation.
26 Mar 2012, 15:02 pm
@wpjoulekkading(wpjoulekkading)-194:
Zero out five(more or less) How do you work that curve?
26 Mar 2012, 15:03 pm
@Atreides(Atreides)-171: silly little person. it works like this. whoever the stormers play, they support. not so difficult, is it?
26 Mar 2012, 15:04 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-195:
Only go there about once a year now.
Know the Stellenbosch, Somerset West, Strand, Paarl side pretty well, but once I venture down into Cape Town itself I pretty much have to stick to the highways, else I kind of lose my way.
26 Mar 2012, 15:04 pm
Stormers will take it…..but just. Superior forward pack will win it for the Stormers.
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