[2017 Super Rugby] Round 16: Cheetahs vs. Stormers (01/07/2017)

[TRF_heineken]

Venue: Toyota Stadium
Time: 15:05 CAT (SA, GMT+2)
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Cheetahs

15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Francois Venter (captain), 12 Clinton Swart, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Niel Marais, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Henco Venter, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Elandre Huggett, 1 Ox Nche

Substitutes: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Justin Basson, 20 Oupa Mohoje, 21 Fred Zeilinga, 22 Ruan van Rensburg, 23 William Small-Smith


Stormers

15 SP Marais, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Shaun Treeby, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Kobus van Dyk, 6 Rynardt Elstadt, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Chris van Zyl, 3 Frans Malherbe (captain), 2 Ramone Samuels, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg

Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Justin Phillips, 22 EW Viljoen, 23 Seabelo Senatla
​

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

We really should get max points here.

Kitshoff back, Senatla back, Elstadt back, Etzebeth and Kolisi in top form (how odd though that Kolisi is Stormers captain while Etzebeth is Bok captain..), De Jongh back, SP Marais and Lleyds rested.

My main concerns are the fact that we have no flyhalf and is Malherbe injured or simply dropped for the 3rd game vs France- I have not been able to read anything regarding his omission? I suppose Wilco Louw can only benefit from the experience of starting as opposed to destroying opposition loose heads off the bench. Other than those two I am hoping we can recapture some of our early season form/accuracy/intent as the likes of Marais and EW Viljoen as well as PSdT havn't played their best rugby leading into the test window.

I'm hoping to see;

1 Kitshoff
2 Mbonambi
3 Malherbe / Louw
4 Etzebeth
5 Du Toit
6 Kolisi
7 Elstadt
8 Notshe / Carr

9 Duvenhage (who I feel should be ahead of Vermaak if we are going to play without our 10s as seems likely)
10 Lleyds (because he is not Coleman)
11 Senatla
12 De Jongh or De Allende if fit?
13 Viljoen
14 Kolbe if he is fit?
15 Marais

A monster pack but we are very disrupted in the backs unfortunately. Still hoping we can resign Chris Cloete for next year. That'd bring balance to our pack. Kitshoff and Elstadt are key key men in the pack for us against other quality packs. Good to have both back.

 

[Big_Grumper]

What does the Cheetahs' team look like? Do they have many internationals or players returning from injury?

 

[TRF_heineken]

What does the Cheetahs' team look like? Do they have many internationals or players returning from injury?

The internationals returning are Francois Venter, Raymond Rhule and Ox Nche. They also have the pleasure of welcoming Chris Dry, Cecil Afrika and Roscoe Specman from the 7's to their squad.

Their hooker, Torsten van Jaarsveld however is injured after picking up an injury while on duty for Namibia.

 

[Big_Grumper]

So we're expecting a win for the Stormers?

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

So we're expecting a win for the Stormers?

We really should but we've fell at Bloemfontein before (and at Newlands.. in 2013 if memory sereves..). A bit of a banana peel/bogey team for us truth be told.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

I updated the OP- hope you don't mind, @TRF_heineken ?

I really like that we are starting Willemse at 10. What with our other options being injured or Kurt Coleman or Lleyds out of place.

I am not entirely keen on Treeby and De Jongh in the centers but suppose they want experience outside of young Willemse.

Resting Kolisi and Etzebeth is fair enough. They had a massive workload for the Bokke and we need them fit for the play-offs and we should still have enough for the Cheetahs even if we might have to rely on our bench where the gulf between these two teams show IMO.

My main hope is Willemse goes well. This is a good pace to start; relatively low priority match but it should be a test still. What with Rob du Preez set to leave us for the Sharks next year we need an option besides Du Plessis in any case and Willemse (and Thompson TBF) are young options that have shown promise. I see De Allende and Viljoen as our starting centers for a few years but am happy eough for Treeby and De Jongh to start.. this match.

 

[saulan]

Happy with the result. After the topsy-turvy results we have seen this weekend and with the Cheetahs being our bogey team it's a good result. An even better result is Elstadt getting red carded at the end of the game where the card couldn't have an impact on the actual game, but means he will be suspended for a number of games. He is just a walking card for us who just never learns discipline wise. He had already been carded earlier in the game as well, further costing the team momentum and points.

Wasn't impressed with the Cheetahs player who also got red carded though, he started it with an elbow to the face and then to put on a football performance and hit the floor in agony on a shot that glanced off him was pathetic (no problem with the red card though, it was a punch to the face).

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Too close for comfort. While I accept we've had worse results in Bloem I don't feel comfortable of our chances in the play-offs.

 

[sigesige00]

Why did Stormers play in the change kits, despite there was no colour clash?

 

[SomeOke]

Why did Stormers play in the change kits, despite there was no colour clash?

To sell jerseys I presume.
Pretty sure this happens fairly often, sometimes teams just wear their away kits because.