- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Stormers will be out for blood when they take on the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Saturday night.
Last week’s Stormers vs Hurricanes game resulted in a 25-20 loss to the Stormers in Wellington, but was not without controversy, with question marks over each of the Hurricanes’ three first-half tries.
No matter what the view with respect to the second and third tries, the Stormers can justifiably feel aggrieved about the Hurricanes first five-pointer.
Down 6-3 after 24 minutes, and near the Hurricanes’ try-line, a Conrad Smith knock down of the Stormers ball saw a turnover and counter-attack by the Hurricanes, ultimately resulting in a try. The knockdown was completely ignored by both the referee and the linesman, who were both in positions to easily see it.
To their credit, the Stormers’ second-half performance was magnificent. Rarely have I seen a side run onto the ball like the Stormers did in those 40 minutes.
One of the areas of the game of rugby that is in need of significant improvement, from Test level down, is the running of the ball by the forwards, and in particular, the tight forwards. How often do you see players receive the ball from a standing position, rather than running onto the ball? This usually occurs with tight forwards close to the ruck, who receive the ball from a stationary position, truck it up a metre or two, before ingloriously falling in a heap after being tackled by an opponent who only had to move two to three metres forward to capture the ball carrier before the gain line.
While rugby league is not to everyone’s taste, this is an area in which they excel. One can argue with some justification that rugby league forwards do not have to expend energy in scrums, lineouts, rucks and mauls, and thus have more gas in the tank for hit ups. Nonetheless, the flow of the game is different and significant energy is expended in rugby league repeatedly retreating 10 metres defensively and then advancing to make the tackle.
Just as the rugby league forward can measure his timing from the play the ball and dummy half, the ruck in rugby union is now so well constructed that runners should easily be able to synchronise their timing with the halfback so as to hit the ball at speed with a view to making maximum yardage.
The time has come for the rugby union forward to be a true ball runner, and the Stormers showed last week they know how to run onto the ball off the ruck effectively and efficiently.
They have a very real chance of beating the Waratahs if they can gain parity in possession, and increase their work rate to that which they displayed in the second half of their game against the Hurricanes. They will have taken great heart from their second half running performance against the Hurricanes, but know that if they give the Tahs too much ball they are in serious danger of being worn down defensively.
NSW have an extremely well-balanced team, with strength and power in their forwards and size and guile throughout their backline, which can prove a handful for the best of defenders.
The Stormers’ best chance is to keep the ball in hand, have their forward runners stand wide of the ruck and make the yardage from offloads off their first receiver. This will drag the NSW forwards across the park and make them work harder defensively.
Expect NSW to employ a mixed running and tactical kicking game, with the aim of pinning the Stormers down deep in their territory so they are either forced to run the ball or kick back under pressure.
Defensively, the Stormers will have to be careful of the high ball, given the disparity in height and weight between the two backlines, and I expect to see Michael Cheika’s men exploit this.
The Stormers can also expect some kicks in behind their front-line defence.
This game should be a bruising encounter, and is not to be missed.