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Stormers will 'embrace the pressure'

Mon, 17 May 2010 16:26

Stormers head coach Allister Coetzee says he is keen to retain the same matchday 22 for the team's semifinal against the Waratahs at Newlands on Saturday as beat the Bulls 38-10 last weekend.

While there were the usual post-match bumps and bruises, the squad had no major injury concerns, and though the team announcement will not be made until after training on Wednesday, Coetzee said on Monday he was keen on continuity in selection.

"I'd like to keep the side the same. We want to take a lot of confidence and momentum into the game. We've got to do what we've been doing, nothing different," said the coach.

Coetzee said he was happy with loosehead prop Wicus Blaauw having played a full 80 minutes against the Bulls after recovering from a fractured hand, and also with fullback Joe Pietersen having gained valuable game-time against the Sharks and Bulls after his hip injury.

Loosehead prop JC Kritzinger, who has struggled with injury in the second half of the competition, is not yet ready to make his return, but Coetzee said that the team had been fortunate on the whole, with only a few injuries to contend with during the competition. The team playing in the semifinal was very similar to the combinaton which had played at the beginning of the tournament.

In fact the only change to the starting 15 likely to play in the semifinal from the run-on team against the Lions in Round One on February 13 is Adriaan Fondse (then injured) coming in for De Kock Steenkamp at lock. In the team which beat the Waratahs 27-6 in Round Two, Kritzinger started at loosehead for the injured Blaauw and Ricky Januarie briefly displaced Dewaldt Duvenage.

Asked whether the team would feel a lot of pressure this week, Coetzee said he would be disappointed if having worked so hard for 13 weeks, the pressure were to tell on the players in the 14th week.

"It's an exciting week, it's back at Newlands to play a semifinal in one of the toughest competitions - the pressure is something which you embrace, and that's how I know these players will pitch up. We can't now worry about the pressure; we have to go out there and win this game."

The players would look forward to enjoying "playing to the best of the team's individual and team performance, in front of a passionate Newlands crowd".

"I'm excited about the semifinal," said Coetzee, "it's really humbling to experience how our fans in Cape Town react to the way the Stormers play and where we are."

The coach said the Super 14 was a very tough competition because a team had to be up for a big game for 13 weeks, with only one bye along the way, and had to keep on peaking "because you can't lower your guard - then you get beaten".

Congratulated on the Stormers success in achieving their first home semifinal since 1999, a modest Coetzee described himself as "just a piece of the puzzle" and lauded the team's management and support staff, adding: "You cannot do this if you don't have a group of players who back and buy into the whole plan."

On what he called "14 weeks of slogging it out", Coetzee added: "But as much as there is technical stuff you have to absorb every week, there is also the human factor in this thing. You've got to make sure the guys are buddies in the side. It's more than just about the game; it's also the human element that bonds the team."

Along with what the coach called "team harmony", foremost among the team's assets this year, he believed, along with defence, had been the squad's pre-season conditioning and having the team's Springboks available from before the pre-season friendlies.

But Coetzee concluded with his usual balanced perspective ahead of the semifinal: "We are moving in the right direction but nothing has been achieved yet."

By Len Kaplan

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