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[2017 Super Rugby] Round 1: Stormers vs. Bulls (25/02/2017)

TRF_heineken

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Venue: DHL Newlands
Time: 19:30 (CAT, GMT+2)

Teams

Stormers: 15 SP Marais, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Siya Kolisi (captain), 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.

Substitutes: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Dewaldt Duvenage, 22 Dan Kriel, 23 Robert du Preez


Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Dries Swanepoel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Travis Ismaiel, 10 Handre Pollard (captain), 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Nick de Jager, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Trevor Nyakane , 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Pierre Schoeman

Substitutes: 16 Edgar Marutlelle, 17 Jacobie Adriaanse, 18 Lizo Gqoboka, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Ruan Steenkamp, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Warrick Gelant
 
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I have no idea what to expect here?

On the Stormers side I like the way they are evolving their game, under Robbie Fleck they have a bit of flair again
On the Bulls side I like the way they are evolving their game, under Nollis Marais they have a bit of flair again

...
 
So we might just see a very entertaining game between these two..
 
The pre-season for the Stormers, as well as what's coming from Fleck, the introduction of Feeny, Senatla - all of these things have successfully got me hooked on the usual hype train.
That said every season the coaches spew the same story and ultimately it hardly ever sticks, our coaches usually don't have the stones to stick with it when the chips are down.

So I'm hopeful but not convinced anything is actually going to change for us, our squad is also pretty decent but we have a glaring few holes. Our half-back pairing could be decent but if we're honest with ourselves it's the fourth best pairing in South Africa at the moment. The best thing that we have going for us is our pretty beastly tight five.

As for the Bulls they have the best backline on paper in SA in my opinion, especially if Pollard fires. Gelant would walk into any other SA team and yet I suspect he will play at 23.

It's going to be a very interesting season for both teams.
Personally I hope the Stormers, Bulls and Sharks can all be decent teams this year but I've been hurt before.
 
Well, I hope that the Bulls can fire from the start, and not try and play catch-up.

We got rid of some dead weight, especially in the forwards department with Dean Greyling, Werner Kruger and Callie Visagie all gone. And replaced them with impactful players like Edgar Marutlule, Lizo Gqoboko and Pierre Schoeman.

I'm also interested to see what kind of lock pairing we'll have with Lood De Jager, RG Snyman and Jason Jenkins.

I'm very optimistic...
 
all of these things have successfully got me hooked on the usual hype train.
That said every season the coaches spew the same story and ultimately it hardly ever sticks, our coaches usually don't have the stones to stick with it when the chips are down.

So I'm hopeful but not convinced anything is actually going to change for us, our squad is also pretty decent but we have a glaring few holes. Our half-back pairing could be decent but if we're honest with ourselves it's the fourth best pairing in South Africa at the moment. The best thing that we have going for us is our pretty beastly tight five.

As for the Bulls they have the best backline on paper in SA in my opinion, especially if Pollard fires. Gelant would walk into any other SA team and yet I suspect he will play at 23.

It's going to be a very interesting season for both teams.
Personally I hope the Stormers, Bulls and Sharks can all be decent teams this year but I've been hurt before.

Well said. I also got hooked again by the build up but that can partly be attributed to the Springboks poor season and just waiting to support your club side again. Every year the coaches talk about how they are working hard on their fitness and the last couple of years they have added that they are now also working hard on skills. I get happy when they say this kind of stuff but im starting to suspect that i am victim like many other supporters of clever pr work . Here is to hoping this year will be different!

Hoping for a good injury free season to Bok hopefulls such as Serfontein, Jesse-Dan Kriel, Pollard, Robert du Preez, Etzebeth and PSDT.
This year we will also see whether playing against Kiwi sides in the group stages actually improves your form in the playoffs as was speculated last year.
 
Well said. I also got hooked again by the build up but that can partly be attributed to the Springboks poor season and just waiting to support your club side again. Every year the coaches talk about how they are working hard on their fitness and the last couple of years they have added that they are now also working hard on skills. I get happy when they say this kind of stuff but im starting to suspect that i am victim like many other supporters of clever pr work . Here is to hoping this year will be different!

Hoping for a good injury free season to Bok hopefulls such as Serfontein, Jesse-Dan Kriel, Pollard, Robert du Preez, Etzebeth and PSDT.
This year we will also see whether playing against Kiwi sides in the group stages actually improves your form in the playoffs as was speculated last year.

Erm...

Jan Serfontein has been ruled out for his game...
 
Erm...

Jan Serfontein has been ruled out for his game...

Yea i read about that. And yes not a great start being injured at the first match but i meant it in a long term view for the season.
 
Thisisi the year the bulls bounce back..... Oh wait. They have a better team but they are 1 year too late, they have to play all the kiwi sides. Added to this is the fact that the 3rd place saffa team doesn't get an automatic entry...means that they will either finish 4th or 10th....But hey, at least you only have to beat the stormers!

- - - Updated - - -

On another note, who is going to be the starting 10 for the stormers?? Coleman? Du Preeze? du Plessis? Thomson?? ... I actually rate the kid thomson, however i'm guessing he is 4th in line.
 
Thisisi the year the bulls bounce back..... Oh wait. They have a better team but they are 1 year too late, they have to play all the kiwi sides. Added to this is the fact that the 3rd place saffa team doesn't get an automatic entry...means that they will either finish 4th or 10th....But hey, at least you only have to beat the stormers!

Maybe... But we only play 2 games in NZ... which isn't that bad...

It's time that we make Loftus our fortress again.
 
Thisisi the year the bulls bounce back..... Oh wait. They have a better team but they are 1 year too late, they have to play all the kiwi sides. Added to this is the fact that the 3rd place saffa team doesn't get an automatic entry...means that they will either finish 4th or 10th....But hey, at least you only have to beat the stormers!

- - - Updated - - -

On another note, who is going to be the starting 10 for the stormers?? Coleman? Du Preeze? du Plessis? Thomson?? ... I actually rate the kid thomson, however i'm guessing he is 4th in line.

Don't throw away the Cheetahs. They are expected to be close enough to on par with the Stormers and Bulls though all three are probably mid table teams at best.

It'll be Du Preez with Du Plessis as back up at 10 for us. From there its anybody's guess but with the Stormers we are likely to go as deep as 5th choice flyhalf with our usual injuries so we'll find out soon I guess.
 
Both teams fielding an almost full-strength team. Would've like if Adriaan Strauss was there at hooker. But other than that, can't complain too much about the Bulls team.

It's gonna be a real tussle
 
Stormers too good, and Pollard taking a little time to slot back into the pace and power of Super rugby. A mighty clash but one where the Stormers had the upper hand from the get go and never let the Bulls into the picture.
Stormers forwards look very impressive.
Bulls will improve on this performance.
 
Looked good on the highlights. Quick tap penalties and early signs that the SARU indaba has decided the Ackerman game plan might work for other teams more than the AC plan.
 
Sorry, stupid question. Before the match they show the maps of each team's home regions. I think it was the bulls who had three areas in South Africa that couldn't be further apart if they tried. What are the reasons for this and is it considered fair? Also, are home games rotated through the three areas at all and do all three areas typically strongly support the Bulls?
 
Sorry, stupid question. Before the match they show the maps of each team's home regions. I think it was the bulls who had three areas in South Africa that couldn't be further apart if they tried. What are the reasons for this and is it considered fair? Also, are home games rotated through the three areas at all and do all three areas typically strongly support the Bulls?

I'm going to get the terms wrong here, but from the South African teams that make up the Super Rugby teams, there is usually one core team that makes up that team (eg. The Stormers have WP, The Sharks have The Sharks, The Bulls have the Blue Bulls etc.). Then the other teams of the 14 (I think) teams we have in the Currie Cup divisions can sign up to be some form of an associate team to each Super Rugby team, allows players from their teams to play for that Super Rugby team. This is not limited to geographical area (eg. Boland in the Western Cape and right next to Western Province have joined the Bulls, which most likely the oddest bit on the map you saw).

I don't think there is any limit to how many teams can sign up with each Super Rugby franchise, but it makes sense for it to be spread amongst the Franchises as I am pretty sure the unions get paid an amount from the Franchises and there is more chances of the players from the other Currie Cup teams getting game time that way.

(In essence, the map is a bit misleading, it isn't really representative of those regions, I''m pretty sure most of the Boland region still supports WP and the Stormers).
 
Sorry, stupid question. Before the match they show the maps of each team's home regions. I think it was the bulls who had three areas in South Africa that couldn't be further apart if they tried. What are the reasons for this and is it considered fair? Also, are home games rotated through the three areas at all and do all three areas typically strongly support the Bulls?

Well, 2 of those regions, Boland and Border, used to be part of the Stormers (Boland) and Kings (Border) franchises. But the Stormers and the Kings with their financial problems couldn't secure contracts with those regions in time for the 2017 season, so the Bulls offered the regions contracts and they accepted, so now the Bulls have first choice on their players.

Back to the game. I'm not too dissappointed with the loss, as I could see that there is a clear sign of a change in the tactics and keeping the ideas of the 2016 Currie Cup tournament in place.

Handre Pollard is still rusty, and that is for sure one of the reasons we lost. His tactical kicking as well as kicking at goal were terrible. And in general play made some bad choices. In the second half there were signs of encouragement like when he did that chip and chase and collected the ball which lead to one of our tries. It was Handre's first competitive match in 18 months!

The other guy that dissappointed me was Jacques Potgieter. After his injury, we looked a bit passive, and not his normal battering ram self. I hope that will change too.

Congrats Stormers, you kept up the tempo, and punished our mistakes. Must be nice to say that the Bulls haven't been able to win at Newlands in the past 6 years...
 
Happy with the win. We knew we had a good pack but what I am happiest with is a fit and seemingly firing Vermaak. Hope we can build on this.


Sorry, stupid question. Before the match they show the maps of each team's home regions. I think it was the bulls who had three areas in South Africa that couldn't be further apart if they tried. What are the reasons for this and is it considered fair? Also, are home games rotated through the three areas at all and do all three areas typically strongly support the Bulls?
The additional regions don't really mean anything other than for politics' sake. Rarely do they include players that are not from their 'main region' and more often than not those players don't even come from their 'feeder' regions but from other teams' extended regions. Its all a bit silly, I know.
 

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