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Stormers to 'throw kitchen sink' at Bulls

Wed, 26 May 2010 16:24

Focussed on the job at hand: Allister Coetzee and Schalk Burger

Stormers head coach Allister Coetzee says his team will leave "no stone unturned" in preparing for the Super 14 Final and will "throw the kitchen sink" at earning victory in Soweto on Saturday.

Speaking after the team's training session in Bellville on Wednesday, Coetzee said: "We know that we've got to embrace this opportunity. It's a fantastic climax to a great competition, and playing it in Soweto, and for us as Stormers it's exciting to be part of this bit of history in our country.

"We've prepared well, we've selected our best side, we're excited to be playing in the final and we want to embrace this occasion - to throw the kitchen sink, everything at it.

"There is everything to play for but we're under no illusion...we're playing against a helluva good side. But we've left no stone unturned to be well prepared and to give our fans reason to be proud supporters of the Stormers side as they've been throughout the year."

The Bulls players have more experience of playing in finals but the Stormers would learn from their senior players who have had the experience of winning the World Cup and Tri-Nations.

"They embrace the challenge of competing against the best in their position, and competing against the best in the final is a great opportunity. If you want to make your mark in South African rugby you don't get a better oportunity than to go play the Bulls in Soweto and do well. If you win the battle there, you'll be remembered for a long time," said the coach.

Stormers captain Schalk Burger was equally determined.

"We've come this far, so we really want to pitch up for the final," said the skipper. "We're playing against the best team in the southern hemisphere for the last couple of years and we've obviously got a lot of respect for them, but in saying that we're proud ourselves and we'd like to make a good fist of it.

"We've prepared well and we've got a good side. When you get to a final you want to make the most of the opportunity and win it," said Burger.

The captain said there was no comparison with the Newlands match between the Stormers and Bulls in the last week of the round robin, won 38-10 by the home team against a Bulls B team.

"It's a different week and a completely different team. It's like playing England in the pool stages of the World Cup and playing them in the final. Different week, different pressures, different performances, different circumstances. So I don't think you can take anything from that [38-10 win] apart from that we played pretty well. This is going to be a completely different week."

Asked to comment on media reports that the final was all about the best attacking team in the competition playing against the best defensive side, Burger's view was that the game was more complex than that.

"There are so many facets of rugby you've got to try and control. We can't defend for 80 minutes; then you lose the match! We'd like to attack as well," said Burger. "Their attack has been really successful this year, but there are so many other things you have to get right as well."

On the absence of Bakkies Botha from the Bulls line-up, Burger commented: "Bakkies is a fantastic player. He's the enforcer of world rugby, not only of Blue Bulls rugby. But in saying that, they've got Danie Rossouw who is the next best number four lock in South Africa. He's played the whole season and the Bulls team with him [Rossouw] has performed just as well. The Bulls will miss Bakkies, but Danie is a fantastic player."

Coetzee said he expected far fewer reset scrums in the final than there had been against the Waratahs in the semifinal, with the Bulls not disposed to dropping the scrum and causing resets as the Waratahs did against the Stormers last weekend.

"If you look at the stats, the Bulls play positive rugby," said Coetzee. "They've got a good scrum as well so they don't have to apply that tactic."

Coetzee said the Stormers were proud of having the best defensive record in the Super 14 and the team were "quite comfortable in backing our systems". He hoped his team would "come up with another great defensive display this weekend", but they understood that the final would present new challenges.

"We've never said our defence is unbreachable or impenetrable but it will be a different challenge altogether this week because the Bulls bring something different to the attacking game. They've also got an attacking kicking game and we will be tested by that."

By Len Kaplan

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