OWN CORRESPONDEN, Cape Town | Thursday 5.45pm.
THE Stormers’ impressive 39-18 win last week over the Blues led to much eating of humble pie in South Africa and abroad, as the team from Cape Town laid down the gauntlet and played some fine rugby to hold their very meagre play-off hopes alive.
This week the Stormers travel to Brisbane where they face a resurgent Queensland Reds side at Ballymore.
The Reds have veered wildly from being unbeatable one week to devastatingly bad the next, but they remain respected by all in the tournament and the pedigrees of Daniel Herbert, Tim Horan, Toutai Kefu, David Wilson, John Eales, Matt Cockbain and Michael Foley speak for themselves.
The Reds lost their first three matches, but are building up a strong head of steam in the wake of three back-to-back wins, and will back themselves as possible semifinalists, although it’ll be a long shot.
The Stormers, then, will be hoping for a repeat performance of last week, an unlikely scenario in that the Reds will probably make fewer mistakes than the Blues, thereby minimising opportunities for the Stormers to take the game by the scruff of the neck.
The midfield battle will be a corker, with De Wet Barry and Robbie Fleck taking on the all-Wallaby partnership of Herbert and Horan. Kefu will have to be kept under wraps if he isn’t to spoil the party for the Stormers, while Eales, in a class of his own at lock, will have a couple of tricks to show Stormers newbie Brett Barrett.
The South Africans will find the going tough, but the match is theirs if they can keep Horan and Herbert roped in, although that, in itself, will take some doing. Expect a tight one.
In Durban, the Crusaders will be looking to reclaim the form that saw them defeat all comers before getting unstuck against the Hurricanes last week.
The Sharks, on the opposite end of the scale, want desperately to get their campaign on track and notch up a win or two. The Natalians are always dangerous at King’s Park, and the Crusaders will make a mistake if they go into this match thinking that it’ll be a pushover.
Two players to watch when the Sharks and Crusaders meet are Gaffie du Toit at fullback and Andrew Mehrtens at flyhalf. Mehrtens, always the man for the big match has still to make his mark on the competition this year, while Du Toit, who struggled at flyhalf, will thrill if he decides to open the game up.
Up front things are pretty even, but the Sharks have a serious weakness at hooker, with Eastern province youngster Vorster Venter being given a baptism of fire in the absence of Chris Rossouw and Mornay Visser. Ollie le Roux may well be roped in to play hooker if Venter doesn’t shape up in the frontrow.
The Sharks at home are a tough lot, but the Crusaders are the team to bank on.
The Bulls face up to the Chiefs, without a doubt the weakest New Zealand side in the Super 12, at Rotorua on Saturday.
The team shows a new flyhalf with Jannie de Beer warming the bench to make way for Jaco van der Westhuizen, while scrumhalf Bennie Nortje has been axed to give Deon de Kock a chance.
Krynau Otto also makes his return to the side, with Wium Basson making way for the Springok colossus.
Current form indicates that the Bulls will lose the match, but the new halfback pairing will make things interesting especially since Nortje’s play has been one of the main reasons behind the Bulls’ poor showing.