The emphatic 33 - 0 win the Stormers have achieved over the Highlanders this weekend have proven that the Cape Town based side have great depth.
Tiaan Liebenberg was struck down on the day of the game with flu, so in stepped Deon Fourie to replace him. Wing Gio Aplon was also battling with flu, so he dropped to the bench, and Sireli Naqelevuki replaced him in the starting team.
That starting team had also seen some additional changes forced by selection considerations during the week — Anton van Zyl was chosen as the front lock, Dewaldt Duvenage came in at scrumhalf for Ricky Januarie. And of course Schalk Burger returned to lead the side after recovering from injury.
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The Lions suffered their second successive defeat in Australasia when they went down 24-13 to the Brumbies in Canberra on Friday.
The wet conditions made for a forwards battle which the Brumbies’ all-Wallaby pack dominated. The Lions had very little possession to speak of and never really troubled the Brumbies on the scoreboard.
Flyhalf Daniel Carter won a goalkicking duel with former teammate Stephen Brett to lead the Crusaders to a 33-20 win over the Blues in Super 14 rugby Saturday.
Carter kicked seven goals from seven attempts - three conversions and four penalties - for 18 points to steer the seven-time champions to their third win in four matches.
Brett, in his first match for Auckland against his former team, kicked four penalties and a dropped goal for 15 points. Canterbury scored tries through flanker George Whitelock plus centres Ryan Crotty and Robbie Fruean, while Auckland had a late try by halfback Alby Mathewson.
Referee Paul Marks denied the Sharks a penalty try at the death to gift the Waratahs a four point win in controversial circumstances in Sydney on Saturday.
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The Vodacom Bulls continued their impressive title defence in the Vodacom Super 14 following their 48-38 victory over the Waratahs at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The victory by the Pretoria outfit was the only successful South African result after the Vodacom Cheetahs (24-31), Vodacom Stormers (19-17), the Auto & General Lions (33-18) and the Sharks (35-6) all conceded defeats this weekend.
Vodacom Bulls winger Francois Hougaard scored a brace of tries while Stephan Dippenaar, Gerhard van den Heever, Wynand Olivier and Jacques-Louis Potgieter all added five-pointers for the hosts.
The Waratahs though secured a bonus point for losing within seven of the Pretoria side. The defeat ensured that the Sydney franchise ended round three in eleventh position, while the Vodacom Bulls continued their dominance at the top of the log.
In Bloemfontein the Highlanders continued their undefeated run over the hosts in Bloemfontein on Saturday. The Otago side has now also won their last five games against the Vodacom Cheetahs, whose only win against the Highlanders was in Invercargill back in 1997 when the tourists outclassed the hosts to triumph 49-18.
The Auto & General Lions are still in search of their first victory in the 2010 Vodacom Super 14 following their 33-18 defeat to the Hurricanes in Wellington. The hosts secured their third win of the competition and are currently in second position on the log after round three.
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The Stormers impressed once again by beating the Sharks from Durban 29-14 in the final Neo Africa Tri-Series match at Newlands on Friday night.
There has been some speculation in the pre-season that the Stormers might this year usurp the Sharks as the team that joins the Super 14 champion Bulls outfit as the best South African challenger for the trophy. As Stormers captain Schalk Burger conceded, it is still early days, but on the evidence of this match it would seem that the critics have it right.
The Sharks made a significant lift on the intensity shown in their previous game against the Western Force on Tuesday, and they troubled the Stormers for a while in the first half with their ferocious onslaught at the breakdowns. Whereas the Sharks got more numbers to the recycles, however, the Stormers did always appear to be the more accurate and clinical of the two sides.
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Schalk Burger has recovered from the injury that kept him out of the match against Western Force and will lead the Stormers in their final Neo Africa Tri-Series match against the Sharks at Newlands on Friday.
The Springbok flank was out of action last week with a haemotomae on his calf and had to undergo a fitness test at the Western Province High Performance Centre on Wednesday morning before being cleared to play.
“I came through the test okay and I am looking forward to captaining the team for the first time this season,” said Burger.
“It was a bit frustrating sitting out last week. I have been on the sidelines a lot in the past year, with suspensions and injuries, and didn’t want to have another week’s break. As I have not been playing that much, I suppose you could say that I am fresher now than I have been before some new seasons.”
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Stormers coach Allister Coetzee pronounced himself hugely satisfied with Saturday’s big 54-12 win over the Western Force in the opening Geo Africa Tri-Series game at Newlands.
The Stormers scored seven tries, six of them in the first half, and completely swamped the Australian franchise in the first quarter. However, the excitement needs to be tempered with the knowledge that the Force fielded what amounted to a B team for this match, with most of the first choices only being introduced in the second half.
“It is not time for us to jump up and down with excitement, and we have to make sure we keep our feet on the ground,” said Coetzee.
“I said beforehand that it was about ticking the little boxes, and that the process is the most important thing here. I just want us to be 100% when we play the Lions in the first Super 14 game in February. But our performance was fine. It was good to get it together playing under the intensity, pressure and physicality exerted by the Force.”
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The Stormers skipper Schalk Burger will not partake in the Neo Africa Tri-Series match against the Western Force on Saturday.
The big flanker bruised a quad in training last week, and as he was unable to take full part in the Stormers practice sessions this week. Coach Allister Coetzee has decided it would be wise to leave him out of his plans for this weekend.
The Western Force game is the first match in a pre-season warm-up tournament also featuring the Sharks, who face the Force at Newlands on Tuesday night before ending off against the Stormers at the same venue next Friday.
“Schalk is very disappointed that he cannot play as he has been appointed captain and was eager to lead the team in the first match of the new season,” said Coetzee.
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Habana a Stormer - at Newlands this am with Rassie and Rob Wagner
Pic source: WP_Rugby
Despite Bryan Habana’s move to Cape Town, the excellent form of Gio Aplon and the experience of Frikkie Welsh, Fijian International Sireli Naqelavuki still remains in the picture as Stormers wing.
In fact Stormers head coach Rassie Erasmus admitted he has a “soft spot” for the Fijian, who cost Western Province dearly when a head-high tackle - the result of a lazy, stiff arm - handed Springbok star Morné Steyn and opportunity to win the Currie Cup semifinal for the Blue Bulls last Saturday.
Steyn duly obliged and slotted a penalty from near 50 metres, at an angle, to see the Bulls advance to face the Cheetahs in the Currie Cup Final, while WP will be watching from the sidelines.
It wasn’t Naqelevuki’s only blunder this year, while his poor work rate and generally disappointing form has seen him become ‘persona non grata’ in Cape Town.
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