Stormers 2013

[TRF_stormer2010]

I surmize that the time is right for us few Stormers fans to have our very own thread. Others are of course welcome to pipe in.

Who do you think will be the 22 to face the Bulls at Loftus first up?

In my mind with Burger (hopefully) ready to play by then and with Etzebeth out for a spell our strongest line-up would look like;

1 Kitshoff
2 Fourie
3 Cilliers
4 Elstadt
5 Bekker
6 Kolisi
7 Burger (c)
8 Vermeulen
9 Groom
10 Jantjies
11 Habana
12 de Villiers
13 de Jongh
14 Aplon
15 Taute

16 Bezuidenhout (at least till one of Ntubeni or Liebenberg is fit again)
17 Carstens
18 Steenkamp / Armand I can't decide
19 Carr
20 Duvenhage
21 Grant
22 Pietersen

Not too shabby if you consider that we have Etzebeth, Liebenberg and Ntubeni out ATM. I hope that AC rotates JdV and JdJ out at times to give Brache and Howard a couple of games in the centers. I'm not convinced De Allende should be the next in line in the centers. On the wing ahead of Van der Heever? Sure. Center... I just think Brache and Howard offer more in the long term.

The good thing about our run of injuries in 2011 and 2012 is that we know we have the depth to at least get us to the play-offs but hopefully this time round we manage to keep a few key players fiit to actually win our play-off matches and get the mind-set right when it comes to scoring points and getting those bonus points along with being able to catch up if we are behind in the tighter matches.

 

[Gena_ZA]

Let's discuss what critical position will cripple the Stormers this year - fly-half and loose forwards reserved
I'll go for hooker in 2013

Maybe Malherbe on the bench and who knows when Grant will be back so rather have De Allende/van den Heever there as Pietesen and Duvenhage can cover no 10

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Well hopefully the hooker crisis is over. If Fourie could hold out for a few weeks we should have Ntubeni back at least.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Let's discuss what critical position will cripple the Stormers this year - fly-half and loose forwards reserved
I'll go for hooker in 2013

Maybe Malherbe on the bench and who knows when Grant will be back so rather have De Allende/van den Heever there as Pietesen and Duvenhage can cover no 10

You were right! Of course we were done for in the lose forwards as well.

On a whole this season was a very big disappointment. True with a little bit of luck at end we could've sneaked in for a play-off berth but TBH this team should never have been in a position wherre they were relying on other match outcomes to go their way.

I really think we have to take serious stock of where we are at.

Why don't we have a fetcher? It's no surprise to me that we won games when Fourie was playing at flank and we had an actual hooker doing the basics right (hitting our jumpers in the line-outs for instance). Francois Louw please come home; we need depth in the loose forwards seemingly and especially if Burger takes as long to recover as I expect.

What do we want from our halves? This season we had no combinations that were actually looking like they had an actual gameplan. I think Schreuder looks like a smart player and I like Van Aswegen's game management and distribution (in large thanks to Schreuder's service). Can we build on these guys or do we need to look elsewhere?

Game plan? What game plan? We have quality centers and dangerous outside backs but don't give them time or space (at least not for the majority of the season) and they seem very unwilling to do any kick returns while this has been proven to be a very effective way to score points and we are exactly the type of team that can pressure opposition into bad/pointless kicks. We are or rather would be perfectly suited to score off of turn-overs as well if we had any form of presence at the breakdown. Our current 'style' only serves to generate injuries. I want to see the back of AC and most of our incompetent administrators.

 

[Gena_ZA]

Agree on all your points but we have a CC to sort a lot of things out still...

Hope we can get Piet van Zyl but hope Jantjes stays away, would really not mind get the Greek boy back.
Howard is a massive your prospect, with Habana and v/d Heever gone this could be his time to step up.

I am praying for Schalk to make a comeback in the CC