The last time the Stormers met the Bulls, a 32-31 loss at cape Town Stadium, their pack was dominated by the Bulls at scrumtime.
Image: Henk Kruger Independent Media
Former Springbok prop Steven Kitshoff expressed a willingness to give back to rugby earlier this week, and if the Stormers were wise to the 33-year-old’s words, they should rope him post haste and without reservation.
“I would love to stay involved in rugby,” he said, at the time of his retirement from all levels of rugby, due to a neck injury.
“The sport has given me so much,” he continued, “and now it is time for me to give a little back, whether it is youth development, mentoring or consulting or whatever form it is, I just want to stay involved as long as I can.”
One suspects that Kitsie has given a few pointers here and there to the Stormers pack, regarding the set-pieces, but with the Bulls looming large on the horizon, they arguably will need the wisdom and expertise of the loose-head prop more than ever.
The tale of the tape is clear when it comes to scrumtime, regarding the Bulls. They are the fourth best scrummaging unit in the United Rugby championship with a 94% success when packing down. They have won 21 penalties from the scrum – also the forth most – and are inarguably the best unit in South Africa.
In their recent 31-19 win over the Lions, they were near perfect in that department, which gave them the perfect platform to secure a bonus-point victory. Previous to that, there was general indignation that they could not convert their forward dominance into triumph when they suffered a shock loss to the Sharks. During that game, the Bulls front-row had Springbok Ox Nche and Co marching back at the set-piece.
In contrast, the Stormers are the worst performing scrumming unit out of the South African teams, with a poor 81% success, and are rated as the 10th best unit in that department by the tournament.
What will be most concerning for the Stormers is that in the recent clash at Cape Town Stadium, won narrowly by the Bulls, is that the visitors had them also yielding ground and meters. During that 33-32 loss, a front-row unit of Sti Sithole, Joseph Dweba and Frans Malherbe had no answer in subduing their opposite numbers in Jan-Hendrik Wessles, Johan Grobbelaar and Wilco Louw of the Bulls.
Bulls coach Jake White also had the likes of Akker van der Merwe, Gerhard Steenekamp and Francios Klopper on the touchline, waiting to inflict more pain on their opponents. The aforementioned were the same starting three that cracked the Sharks, and had an almighty tussle against the Lions, and there is no reason to not expect that trio to be on the teamsheet again on Saturday (kick-off 5pm).
In the Stormers most recent URC match – against the Lions at Ellis Park in mid-February – the Stormers fielded props Alistair Vermaak and Malherbe, with JJ Kotze in-between as their starters. In reserve, they called on Brok Harris and Neethling Fouce, while the explosive Andre-Hugo Venter trotted onto the field at hooker in the 48th minute.
The result was that the Stormers still lost half of their scrums, while the Lions won all of theirs.
The upcoming clash against the Bulls is a must-win scenario for the Stormers. They are currently 10th in the URC with 24 points, and any slip-ups in the coming weeks will see the former champions denied a play-off spot.
Even though the Sharks showed that it is not impossible to defeat the juggernaut pack of the Bulls, the Stormers can ill-afford to roll into Loftus Versfeld this weekend with one that cracks from the very first play.