Stormers have it all to play for

Week 14 of the 2011 Super 15 is fast approaching, and with only a few weeks left till the “finals series” (feels like a bastardised PR word to me) the chaff is being separated from the wheat. The Brumbies are now certain to be the running punch line for this season, considering their own coach calls them gutless and their season a charade. Matt Giteau simply said it was reality. Man, Brumbyland must be a mighty awful place to be in right now. The Lions might have lost every single game last year but at least they didn’t stage a mutiny during the season but rather let the wind blow as it was always going to. Jake White, you have your work cut out for you.

Looking beyond the bottom, the competition is now about eight teams. The Reds look all but certain to top the Australian conference, while the Blues and Crusaders look like smart picks for the finals from New Zealand. The Stormers and Sharks should also make it since their lead over the Bulls in the standings is significant. The defending champions will then be tussling with the Waratahs and Highlanders for that last finals spot. Fun times lie ahead.

The Stormers, imperious in Cape Town for the most part, have lost their first match on tour and now the pressure is on last year’s finalists to right the ship before the tour starts drifting into dangerous waters. Since they still have three games, it isn’t quite panic stations yet, but two losses in a row would pose serious questions towards their championship credentials. A reverse to the Blues this coming weekend would mean they have lost to all of their non-South African rivals at the top of the log, with two of those being at Newlands. Against the Crusaders they didn’t wake up till it was too late, and against the Reds they were tactically out-thought. The Chiefs, after being slapped around in the first half, were galvanised by Gio Aplon’s very harsh sin-binning and with Jaque Fourie going off at half-time due to injury, the stage was set for a comeback. Fourie is the bedrock of the Stormers’ defensive line, and though Juan de Jongh is the best replacement you can possibly ask for, he isn’t as polished as Fourie when it comes to knowing where tacklers need to be.

Hence, the former Lions’ fitness will be of vital concern this week. They are up against a far more resolute Blues side than they would’ve encountered over the last few seasons. They always knew how to score tries in Auckland but they didn’t know how to win the gnarly affairs when opportunities are limited. That has changed this season, with the likes of Rene Ranger and Jared Payne looming as big threats to the Stormers’ ambitions. Luke McAlister is starting to look like the All Black of 2007 and Joe Rokocoko has incrementally improved. If the Stormers can survive whatever Pat Lam and his Blues throw at them, that would be an excellent achievement considering how truly horrendous they were against the Chiefs.

That match is the first of the weekend, meaning by the time the Sharks and Bulls lock horns in Durban, both sides will have a much clearer idea of what is required to move up the table. It’s going to be a mighty forward tussle, with the advantage lying with the Durbanites. The Bulls will come prepared no doubt, but it is the home side that appears more adequately prepared in the forward department. The Pretoria team will maybe look at the Sharks centre pairing of Stefan Terblanche and Meyer Bosman as the place to target, since that is where the Stormers exposed them when they travelled to Newlands a few weeks ago.

Plaudits should go to the Cheetahs for beating the Crusaders. The Crusaders weren’t quite at their best, and for the second time in a row, lost in Bloemfontein. Naka Drotske could teach the Brumbies a thing or two, since it is the Cheetahs that have the most bonus points in this competition from close losses, many of which were accompanied by the four-try bonus point, and a points difference belying their position on the log. As I posted in a previous blog, the Cheetahs are playing good rugby and if they can hold onto the likes of the Ebersohn twins, could prove to be a really sticky team to face in the future.

The Lions? Well, they won in Canberra, but considering that their opponents are in a complete shambles, should abandon all notions of sudden improvement and get right back on the horse as they attempt to do a Cheetah by winning in Sydney. They played a heck of a lot better no doubt, with Joshua Strauss’s energy within the forwards proving infectious. Elton Jantjies also had an excellent match, so now his challenge is to do so again this week.

The pot’s being stirred in the Super 15 and while grumblings begin to emerge from New Zealand and South Africa about conference strengths etc, don’t let that distract you from what has been a good mix of rugby this season.