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Stormers vs Reds: Super Rugby live scores, blog

Roar Guru
24th March, 2018
When: 2:15am AEDT
Where: DHL Newlands Park, Cape Town
TV: Fox Footy
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen
Assistant Refs: Egon Seconds, Rasta Rasivhenge
TMO: Christie du Preez

Stormers
15 Craig Barry
14 JJ Engelbrecht
13 EW Viljoen
12 Damian de Allende
11 Raymond Rhule
10 Damian Willemse
9 Dewaldt Duvenage
8 Nizaam Carr
7 Cobus Wiese
6 Siya Kolisi
5 Pieter-Steph du Toit
4 Jan de Klerk
3 Wilco Louw
2 Ramone Samuels
1 JC van Rensburg
16 Dean Muir
17 Steven Kitshoff
18 Carlu Sadie
19 Chris Van Zyl
20 Kobus Van Dyk
21 Sikhumbuzo Notshe
22 Justin Phillips
23 George Whitehead

Reds
15 Aidan Toua
14 Filipo Daugunu
13 Samu Kerevi
12 Duncan Paia'aua
11 Chris Feauai-Sautia
10 Jono Lance
9 Ben Lucas
8 Caleb Timu
7 Adam Korczyk
6 Angus Scott-Young
5 Kane Douglas
4 Izack Rodda
3 Taniela Tupou
2 Alex Mafi
1 James Slipper
16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa
17 Jean-Pierre Smith
18 Sef Fa'agase
19 Harry Hockings
20 Scott Higginbotham
21 Tate McDermott
22 Hamish Stewart
23 Eto Nabuli
Samu Kerevi of Reds is tackled by Nicolás Sánchez during a match between Jaguares and Reds as part of the fifth round of Super Rugby at Jose Amalfitani Stadium on March 17, 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Daniel Jayo/Getty Images)
Roar Guru
24th March, 2018
274
3551 Reads

The Stormers host the Reds Sunday morning at DHL Newlands Park, in Cate Town. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 2:15am AEDT.

Before last week, the Reds won only a solitary game out of the sixteen matches outside Australia. A win tonight will triple that count.

In what seems like several lifetimes ago, the last time the Reds won in Newlands was in its Super Rugby championship year.

The odds are once more stacked against the Reds today, a similar fate they faced in the past few weeks before triumphing against the past three opponents namely the Jaguares, the Bulls and the Brumbies.

The Stormers are likely to put a stop to that, being virtually unbeatable at home. The Stormers lost at home only twice last year, once to 2017 finalist the Lions. The other time was in a qualifying round six-point loss against the Chiefs.

With the exception of the 18 point drubbing by the Stormers two years ago against a “coach-less” Reds, the winning margin between the teams in this decade has generally not exceeded ten.

Robbie Fleck’s 2018 Stormers have displayed some improvements in their attack owing to the newly constructed backline attack comprising flyhalf Damian Willemse, fullback Dillyn Leyds and veteran scrumhalf Dewaldt Otto Duvenage.

The Stormers’ backrow continues to rack incredible miles on the pitch. Conversely Brad Thorn’s Reds backrow generally clock low metres in attack, except for Caleb Timu, who averaged 50 metres in the last two outings.

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This week, the Reds’ backrow will be bolstered by the return of their Captain and try scoring machine, Scott Higginbotham.

The Reds will continue to concentrate on their defence and set piece, which has so far has been ferocious in terms of speed, power and precision. The long travel exacerbated by visa problems may take its toll for the team especially in the second half.

Fleck’s Stormers are very big boys. But the Reds are no drooping daisies either with their front row reaching towards 400kg. This includes the 130kg Taniela Tupou, who is starting to show good form. His matchup against the all-powerful Steven Kitshoff will be a great test.

The scrum battle will be a juicy contest. Lineouts will be a different story. Thorn’s Reds lineout specialists will target the Stormer’s suspicious throw-ins.

But the battle to look out for is the fierceness in tackles, rucking and cleanouts. Six weeks into the competition, the injury toll will dictate the future fortunes of both teams. To date, both teams have avoided adding to their injury list.

Every match up will be of interest, ranging from the kicking accuracy, backrow mobility, centreline punching power, and set piece moves. A special mention should be the Reds Smith front-row twins, who were grew up in the Western Province.

Weaknesses. After a handful of rounds there are emerging patterns. The Reds scrum while strong, can be defeated.

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Their defence has held up including the critical transition zone (the area between backs and forwards defenders).

But no one has tested their mobility through chip kicks behind their line. Also, Reds have also been unable to put together a cohesive, multi-phase attack.

The Stormers main fragilities include outside defence and lineouts. But their speed, cohesiveness and seamless interplay between backrow, inside backs and speedsters should be enough to put the Reds away.

But it can be a close match, if the Reds are able to maintain their fitness through the full 80 or so minutes.

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