Unchanged Stormers to tackle Tahs
Wed, 07 May 2008 14:20
Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus has named an unchanged side to face the Waratahs in their vitally important Super 14 fixture at Newlands on Saturday.
The Stormers are on a five-match winning streak, and have played themselves into possible semifinal contention in the second half of the tournament.
The Cape Town franchise currently occupy fourth place in the log standings, and a win against the 'Tahs on Saturday will see them leapfrog the New South Wales team into most likely third place, if the Hurricanes manage to win their home tie against a depleted Western Force.
Either way, the Newlands match is of critical importance for both teams.
Coach Erasmus looked ahead to the match and rated it as a great occasion that would provide both squads with a difficult task.
"It's a nice challenge for us especially. I think at the beginning of the season we weren't really contenders," said Erasmus.
"When I say us, I mean both [Stormers and Waratahs] teams. The Waratahs didn't have a great season last year, and the coach was a little bit under pressure last year, and he came through tremendously.
"For us, [this year] was the same thing. We weren't really contenders in anybody's eyes, so for us it's nice to say that for at least some stages of the competition we were involved in a top-of-the-table clash.
"So it's a nice, tough challenge for both teams," he declared.
Stormers: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Wylie Human, 13 Gcobani Bobo, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Sireli Naqelevuki, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Ricky January, 8 Robbie Diack, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Luke Watson, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Brian Mujati.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Ross Skeate, 19 Pieter Myburgh, 20 Bolla Conradie, 21 Tony Brown, 22 Dylan des Fountain.
Date: Saturday, May 10
Venue: Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)
Referee: Lyndon Bray (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Brent Murray (New Zealand), Christie du Preez (South Africa)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
