08 January
Stormers confident for Super 14
The Stormers‘ run of good form at the end of last year’s Super 14 have given the Stormers and their captain Jean de Villiers alot of confidence nearing this year’s campaign.
“De Villiers, 2008′s South African Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year, highlighted the importance of home victories in the Super 14 and says the Stormers are perfectly placed to build on the winning culture they created at Newlands in the latter stages of the 2008 season.
“When we came back from the overseas leg we did not lose a match at Newlands.
“We also won every game in the Currie Cup with our strongest team for Western Province. So it does give us a lot of confidence,” he said.
De Villiers was the Stormers’ star player in 2008, which was also his first season as captain. He then starred in the Boks’ Tri-Nations campaign and led Western Province in the Currie Cup before the Boks’ year-end tour.
With the British & Irish Lions series looming, De Villiers is among a core group of Springboks that needs to be carefully managed.
However, the 27-year-old says he won’t be asking for any sabbaticals in this year’s southern hemisphere showpiece.
“It’s up to the coaching staff to decide when I should get a break, but I am still feeling good,” he said.
“The break during the festive season was good for me.
“I have had so many injuries over the years, so whenever I am fit I just want to be on the field.”
While the Stormers experienced a terrible start in 2008, losing their first three games, the star centre hopes a positive start will ignite their title onslaught in 2009.
De Villiers believes more will be expected from the Cape franchise in 2009 after his team over-delivered on their fans’ expectations in 2008 by narrowly missing out on a semi-final berth.
But he maintains the Stormers have what it takes to go all the way this year.
“We started badly last year so we want turn that around and get a good start in 2009,” he said
“There is more expectation this year than there was last year, so that creates a bit of pressure.
“The challenge for us is to grow and I think we have and we want to continue doing so. This is a different year and we believe we can go all the way.”
The Stormers kick off their 2009 Super 14 campaign against the Sharks at Newlands on Valentine’s Day.“
Source: rugby365.com
Tags: jean de villiers, Rugby, Super 14
January 21st, 2009 at 7:34 am
[...] Eloff the Super 14 franchise Lions coach is thinking of not playing his star Springbok flyhalf Andre Pretorius in the [...]
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:14 am
[...] Erasmus have chosen the strongest possible Stormers team possible to face the English club Saracens in the friendly Super 14 warm-up match at Newlands [...]
January 26th, 2009 at 7:11 am
[...] with the more ammunition and deserved to be ahead. That Newlands can prepare itself for a bumper Super 14 season was evident with such a big crowd rocking up to see their heroes in [...]
January 26th, 2009 at 8:17 am
[...] four nominations although he had to settle for just one award as the Sharks No 8 was chosen Vodacom Super 14 Player of the Year. He was also nominated for Sasol Young Player of the Year and Absa Currie Cup [...]
February 2nd, 2009 at 2:33 am
[...] intercept try by replacement Bjorn Basson five minutes before the end of the pre-Super 14 season match handed the Cheetahs a 20 – 16 win over the Bulls in Polokwane on [...]
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:35 am
[...] that helped them to a nailbiting 22-15 win over the Chiefs in the first match of their Vodacom Super 14 tour on Saturday. Even for an ardent South African supporter it would have been hard not to feel [...]
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:47 am
[...] the injury may take the shine off the Bulls’ unbeaten run in the Super 14 competition, following their third successive win at the weekend, the break could not have come at [...]
March 5th, 2009 at 6:02 am
[...] Super 14 – Round 4 fixtures are as [...]
March 9th, 2009 at 2:46 am
[...] Chiefs got their first win of the season by downing the Western Force 31-13 in their Super 14 match played at the Waikato Stadium in Hamilton on Friday. The Chiefs made an impressive start to [...]
March 18th, 2009 at 11:02 am
[...] Blues remain in touch with the Super 14 competition leaders after thrashing the bottom-placed Vodacom Cheetahs 46-12 in North Harbour [...]
March 18th, 2009 at 11:03 am
[...] Lions will prepare for the Super 14 rugby match this weekend against the Brumbies on Saturday without the services of their forward [...]