Cape Town – The Stormers believe the Bulls are clear favourites for Saturday’s Super 14 final at Orlando Stadium in Soweto, but they don’t plan on settling for second. Stormers coach Allister Coetzee likened the challenge awaiting his side to that of an Olympic athlete.
”Some go to compete and are content to run in the finals. Others go to win the finals, to win gold and break records,” Coetzee said. ”This Stormers side have a lot of respect for the Bulls. They are the best team in the southern hemisphere. But you go not just to run the race. We’re going to win.”
Stormers captain Schalk Burger shared Coetzee’s respect for the Bulls, who booked their ticket to the final with a 39-24 win against the Crusaders, also at Orlando Stadium. But he was more subtle in refusing to discount his side’s chances.
Likening the Stormers to a road-racing cyclist in the peloton preparing to launch a winning move, the blindside flanker said: ”The Bulls have been the pacesetters and we have slipped behind them in the slipstream. I think they are arguably the most experienced side in this competition.”
There is no doubt the Bulls and Stormers are the best two teams in the competition this year. And the timing of their qualification for Saturday’s all-South African title decider has been welcomed here as the perfect finale to the Super 14 season before the FIFA World Cup gets under way.
Not that Waratahs captain Phil Waugh shared the joy of the locals. When asked who he thought would win, he said: ”Not that concerned, to be honest.”
There was a brief silence after Waugh replied, but it didn’t take long for banter about the top-billing Bulls-Stormers clash to resume.
This is the first time the Stormers have made a Super final, after they lost the 1999 and 2004 semi-finals, and they realise that the Bulls side they will face in Soweto will be different to the B team they beat in round 14, when coach Frans Ludeke opted to rest 14 of his top players.
”The Bulls have played in a lot of finals and know how to win them,” Burger said. ”They’ve been the pacesetters in both the Super 14 and Currie Cup for some time. They’ve dominated opposing teams, but we are getting there.
”We have a solid set-piece, a fantastic kicking game and there’s something special about our ball-in-hand approach in the back line.
”The decision-making on when to kick and when to run has also impressed. I’ll have to look at why our scrum was reset so many times against the Waratahs. Other than that, I’ve been pleased with the way the guys have handled the pressure.”
Coutesy of sport24
fender @ 27
lmao
Wezwp wrote:
Wezwp wrote:
Not very nice to make those accusations with no prove at all…
@ fender:
I’m sure even you know the answer to that… 😯
Don’t make you blue bloods out to be angels when they in fact the opposite. Bloody useless rolemodels. Only guy thats actually a good guy is Victor.
Wez, you gotto take it easier, broer. Don’t you realise that you can be taken to court for saying stuff like this on a public forum? Freedom of speech has it limits. Please..
wez @ 34
shouldnt you wait for the fightclub thread that should be on later this week? 😉
blouste @ 32
(reluctantly) agree!!
In England Mutu was banned for life from chelsea and English football for using cocaine which i believe was correct. while pedrie gets a slap on the wrist for doing the same thing. What message does this say to our kids.
Geez Wez
With posts like that you’re almost as bad as the Bulls, and when I say Bulls I mean Tacitus and them, chill man. Who said the Stormer okes are rolemodels?
Those types of accusations aren’t even funny.
who’s going to take me to court the 50 registered blue bull users.
@ Wezwp:
Hatespeech also not a healthy message…hope you don’t have kids.
#33 Nope, I don’t Blouste….
wez @ 37
that these guys are human!!
….
come-on bru, in which other profession except being a pastor etc are you so constant under scrutiny?
jeez bru, these guys are where they currently are because of their talent,
and NOT because they signed up to be someone’s role model!
yes, it comes as part and parcel of the “job’, but then so should sympathy be from the same adoring public!!
@ The Saint:
Finally we agree with each other on something 😉
Ok the shadow comments was a bit over the top but Pedrie and Jooste piss me off. Especially Jooste.
41 @ fender:
😯
You dont know of van der Heevers achievements on the athletic track…
And yes, you’ve guessed it, in the hurdles event 😆
I will never forgive Jooste for his role in the davids/cronje saga
Wez, what prevents VdH from making a case of crimen injuria against you?
Dag aan al die RT maats, in n perfekte wêreld kry die bulls saterdag pakslae maar die wêreld is nie perfek nie so stormers sal settle vir die wen….
@ Wezwp:
Come now man, get over it. The people involved have probably done that long ago !!!
Enough of the overrated shadow. Come on bulls supporters this guy is average at best. Calling him a legend in the making is very much premature
47 @ fender:
His good manners… 😆
@weswp die bulls is eintlik n klomp nederige ouens en baie van hulle is beleidende christene daar is n streep wat hier getrek moet word want bra jy is nou naby aan oor trap chill chom dis aan die einde net n game en wie ok al wen gaan oor 10 jaar net n statestiek wees coolit ou
must i tell you what prevents him, the fact that i know he blogs on keo and not Rugby-Talk ,.
8louste, I bet he used a pole!
scrumsaam @ 48
amen!!
50 @ Wezwp:
Now thats better, an opinion – although it is so far from the truth as you can get !!!
Final prediction: bulls 12 Stormers 27
WEZWP, What has Joost got to do with you, or any of us. He is no longer in the public eye.
It is only useless journalist and pin-prick anti-Bull supporters such as yourself that jump on any private matters of ex-Bulls.
This is hopefully my first and last personal post.
@ fender:
Or a spear 😆
53 @ Wezwp:
Who cares ?
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