was last week
Andy Capostagno Rugby
The sound of Newlands last Sunday was the sound of crumbs of comfort being swept up. Yes, the Stormers had lost to the Cats, but no one got badly injured, the bonus point for a close loss ensured a home semi-final and other results meant that the Crusaders were avoided, for the moment at least.
And for those with eyes beyond the Super 12 there was the sight of Gaffie du Toit reminding us of his precocious talent, the Cats pack playing like Springbok thoroughbreds, and Japie Mulder and Chester Williams, two men with World Cup winners’ medals, putting in the kind of performance which suggests they have not given up hope of playing in this year’s showpiece.
It was, in fact, just the kind of match the Stormers needed prior to the semi-finals. The Cats were committed, skilful and utterly ruthless, exactly the kind of qualities required from now on if the Stormers are to become the first South African team to win the Super 12. Anything less and we could be faced with the equivalent of cold soup on a winter’s day; an all-New Zealand final.
It could easily happen. The Crusaders face the Reds at Ballymore, happy in the knowledge that they are currently in the best form of any team in the last four. If a graph were made of the Crusaders’ season to date it would look like a big letter V. They began with a 48-3 drubbing of the Chiefs, then beat Auckland at Eden Park and had a week off. After that things began to go wrong.
They could only draw with the unpredictable Hurricanes and they lost their next two matches against Queensland and the Highlanders. Their whole season was about to fall flat when Andrew Mehrtens dropped that now infamous last-minute goal to shade the Bulls 30-28.
The Crusaders have not looked back since and those New Zealanders who believed they were lucky to win last year may have to prepare for a large helping of egg on the face. Which is not to say that they are a shoo-in against the Reds, but that they have been there, done that, and they are brimful of that food of the gods: confidence.
The feeling is that the Reds are happy to be in the semis. They have only lost twice, but they have been mightily unimpressive in winning eight and drawing one, with the possible exception of the second-half display against the Sharks last week.
The Highlanders’ graph looks a little different from the Crusaders. It is a straight line of impressive achievement which droops disconcertingly at the end. Since beating the Crusaders a month ago, the Highlanders have beaten the Reds and ACT by a somewhat fortunate one-point margin, and lost against the Waratahs and the Hurricanes. One thing such a form line suggests is that they will be happy to have avoided an Australian team in the semis.
Much will be made of the log meeting between the Highlanders and the Stormers when Alan Solomons experimented with his reserves. The resultant 46-14 drubbing could yet return to haunt him, for while Solomons’s crack troops may well have lost too that day, they would surely have kept the margin tight. Two months down the line the Stormers failed to win the log on points difference – the Reds were plus 63, Stormers plus 46. On such ironies does the world of sport turn.
So neither team is playing at its best at the moment, which should mean that home advantage takes on an even more significant aspect than usual. But the history of the Super 12 is that of teams raising their games for one-off matches. Remember three years ago how the Sharks, given no chance by the bookies, drubbed the Reds 43-25 at Ballymore to reach the final.
The psychological war began early this week when the Highlanders suggested the match should be moved away from Newlands because of the state of the pitch. It need hardly be said that that is fairly rich coming from a Kiwi. Frequently in mid-season the only part of the pitch vaguely playable at major New Zealand grounds is the 30m2 used as a cricket square in the summer.
That said, Newlands is a disgrace and the decision to relay the pitch at the end of last year has backfired.
As always, however, the pitch is the same for both sides and if nothing else, the last month should have taught the Stormers how to play on it. What they really need is a little luck early in the game to settle the nerves -a Pieter Rossouw intercept try, or a Braam van Straaten penalty from his own 10m line.
Achieve something like that and we can get down to the nitty-gritty and enjoy the battle between the two tight fives, a battle which should go a long way towards deciding who wins the Super 12 this year.