OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 4.00pm.
GIVEN their respective places on the Super 12 log, Saturday’s match between the Stormers and the Cats shouldn’t be a big deal. Additionally, the Stormers are virtually unbeatable at home and the match is at Newlands.
And yet the game has attracted massive attention. Cats coach Andre Markgraaff rested his top players during a 22-12 whipping by the third place Queensland Reds, and the A-side should be back to trouble the Stormers. This has not endeared Markgraaff to Cape rugby commentators, as the flap in the Cape Times suggests.
At stake for the Stormers is a chance to finish the season top of the log, ensuring a home semifinal and final if it comes to that. One imagines scores of Otago Highlander fans e-mailing form tips to Markgraaff and his players.
While the Cats are yet to name their starting line-up, it seems clear that well-rested Johan Erasmus, fellow flanker Andre Venter and hooker Naka Drotske will return to bolster the side.
Stormers coach Alan Solomons, himself guilty of resting his top side in an early match against Otago, is worried because the Highlanders have a superior points difference to the Stormers. Otago can finish first with a win this weekend and a lacklustre performance by the Cape side.
The Cats, meanwhile, have scored more tries than any other team in the Super 12 this year, and could actually still the Storm if their defensse comes together. Plenty is at stake for both teams, as the Cats could finish in the top half of the log with a win.
The interesting battle will be for a Stormers’ bonus point, which will put them out of reach of Otago. The Cats could, however, worry the Stormers on their home ground, ensuring a tough fight and making that bonus point too elusive.