Stormers coach Allister Coetzee says his team will “look to right the mistakes” they made in their league defeat to the Crusaders in Saturday’s Super Rugby semifinal at a sold-out Newlands (5.05pm kick-off).
Even though the Stormers went down 20-14 to an injury-ravaged Crusaders in May, the biggest problem on that Saturday night was taking their opportunities on attack, of which there were plenty.
A few poor line-outs in the Crusaders half, young flyhalf Lionel Cronjé opting for a cross-kick in the 22 instead of passing and a Brok Harris knock-on about 10m out were just some of the chances that were butchered.
The barrage of mauls off line-outs from the Stormers in the second half is another case in point, where they were twice unable to get over the line and robbed of possession on the third attempt. That was also a sequence where captain Schalk Burger chose that a number of penalties must be kicked into touch to set up line-outs instead of taking the three points, and he may perhaps make a different decision this time around if he faces a similar scenario.
Of course, New Zealand referee Chris Pollock also played a big role in stifling any Stormers momentum, failing to blow up the Crusaders for offside throughout the game, while he failed to award Dewaldt Duvenage a legitimate try following a quick lineout from Kieran Read early on.
Pollock further incensed Burger when he didn’t hand the Stormers a penalty try or issue the Crusaders any yellow cards after the Kiwis collapsed two successive mauls off line-outs on the five-metre line.
All these openings led to Coetzee saying afterwards that “we had opportunities, but with unnecessary mistakes, we couldn’t pull it through. We could easily have won it”. And the Stormers will have first-choice flyhalf Peter Grant available too after Cronjé had to direct play in the league game. Grant brings a sense of calm to the backline and fulfils a vital role on defence too, which makes life easier on the loose forwards.
“The Crusaders are a champion side and know how to win the knockout games. They offer a massive challenge and we know what we are up against,” Coetzee said on the Stormers website after the seven-time champions beat the Sharks in Nelson at the weekend.
“We were disappointed with our performance against them at Newlands, and we will certainly look to right the mistakes we believe we made there. Next week is a big week for us.”
The Stormers camp may also take encouragement out of the Sharks’ performance against the Crusaders in Nelson in the play-off qualifier on Saturday. John Plumtree’s team took on the Crusaders in the physical combat in the first half, making good ground around the fringes through the likes of Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis, Willem Alberts and Jean Deysel.
And Alberts smashed his way over the line following a Charl McLeod break to put the Sharks 5-3 ahead, but once Read scored an intercept try in the second half with the score at 16-8 to the Crusaders, the Sharks’ lengthy trip to Nelson from Durban caught up with them.
The Stormers forwards have shown that they can intimidate their opponents this season, with the victories over the Bulls and Sharks at Loftus and Kings Park the highlights of their march to the semi-finals. Here locks Rynhardt Elstadt and the colossal Andries Bekker will have to knock over strong runners such as Read, Brad Thorn and Sam Whitelock, especially with big No8 Duane Vermeulen out injured.
The Crusaders have a powerful scrum too, where the Franks brothers, Owen and Ben, as well as loosehead Wyatt Crockett, who scored a try and was the Man of the Match at Newlands in May, will look to put Wicus Blaauw and Harris under some serious heat.
Stormers forwards coach Matthew Proudfoot said last week that the forwards need to use their maul more often on Saturday, and it is a challenge that Crusaders captain Richie McCaw is excited to deal with.
“They’ve got some ability to play, and you saw when they came on the tour over here, they played pretty good rugby – pretty efficient is probably the way I’d describe it,” the All Black captain told the New Zealand media yesterday at the Nelson airport before the long journey to Cape Town.
“They’re a big forward pack, they get some go-forward and put the ball at the right end of the field, and they’re happy to do it in threes if need be. It’s going to be a good challenge, but they’re a team that if we get stuck into them, there are opportunities there too.”