Stormers v New Zealand - Teams and Prediction
PREVIEW: It’s finally here, Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry kicks off in Cape Town as the Stormers welcome the All Blacks to DHL Stadium in what promises to be a mouthwatering clash.
The last time the All Blacks toured South Africa in 1996, they didn’t face the Stormers (Western Province at the time) or any of their upcoming United Rugby Championship opponents.
Western Province defeated the All Blacks twice in 1928 (10-3) and in 1976 (12-11), but this will be the first meeting between these sides in the professional era.
The Western Cape and the All Blacks have a deep connection, with the Kiwis enjoying strong local support.
Current Springbok assistant coach and former All Black flyhalf Tony Brown also represented the Stormers in 2008 on seven occasions, whilst former All Black lock Chris Jack earned one cap for Western Province in 2009.
Rennie spoke about what he expects from the clash against the Stormers and what he wants to get out of the opening tour fixture.
“We want to build on what we’ve done in the past three [Nations Championship] games. We’ve had a bit more time together, and that’s been good,” Rennie said.
“There’s some combinations [we’re testing] against a team that’s been competitive in the URC who will be excited about the potential of an international scalp, so that makes them dangerous.
“This is only about us getting better; we’ve got a Test match around the corner, and we know we’ll need to be better against them than we were in the three Tests.”
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Rennie rubbished any claims that the Stormers are a weaker team without some of their frontline Springboks and paid respect to the Capetonians and the depth of South African rugby.
“It’s still a pretty strong Stormers side we feel. There’s no shortage of talent and depth in this country.
“The old days of playing a French Barbarians or a South African XV that want to soften you up ahead of a Test series probably changed.
“We have a massive amount of respect for South African rugby, and we’re well aware of the quality of team we are up against, and we’ll give them that respect.”
The All Black mentor also touched on the local support base and how they found their time on tour thus far interacting with their South African-based fans.
“It’s been awesome. It’s my eighth time staying in this hotel.
“We’ve played the Stormers a lot when I was with the Chiefs, and the support we got was always fantastic.
“I know supporters of all New Zealand [Super Rugby] sides came through here and very much like the All Blacks.
“The crowd we saw last Friday [at the welcome to country event] were very passionate, and it will be great to have those voices and numbers behind us this week to start the tour off.”
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Stormers captain Ruhan Nel explained what the occasion personally means to him and which approach the team will take to honour it.
“It’s something most of us will never face again. I mean, I’m 35 [years old].
“Obviously Brannas [Deon Fourie] faced them in a World Cup Final, but I will face them for the first time, and you have Yaqeen [Ahmed] who is 20 years old who will have the same opportunity.
“It’s an incredibly special occasion. The boys know the magnitude of the game. You don’t do them or the occasion justice just by the team rallying on and admiring them.
“You run onto the field, and you actually compete and give it your best crack. That’s how you honour them. That’s what they want, and that’s what we want.
“That’s the mentality for us, and afterwards we’ll think about how special it is, but at the end of the day we are competitors, we want to see how far we can push ourselves.
“To do that against the All Blacks for the first game of the season, what an occasion that would be; it’s going to be lekker.”
Nel spoke about the history of the fixture and what it would mean for the Stormers to get a scalp over the three-time World Champions.
“I don’t think anyone has the mindset of the illusion that it’s going to be a [pre-season] hit-out.
“Everyone is talking about the Western Province team that defeated the All Blacks 50 years ago. We want to be part of that as well.
“Hopefully it won’t be another 50 years should we pull it off on Friday. We want to write our own page in the history of the franchise.
“We’re not going to do that by approaching the game as a hit-out, and I’m sure they’ll have the same mindset of coming up against a franchise team of South Africa.
“These guys are probably playing for Test spots against the Springboks when the matchday squad is announced in a couple of weeks.
“That’s our mentality as well; we want to be the best version of ourselves and be true to ourselves, our supporters and the people who pay to watch us play.
“A guy like Evan [Roos] wants to get back into the Springbok squad. I think you do that by playing for and with the team.
“Once you go individualistic, you’re putting yourself more to the detriment of yourself instead of buying into the cause of the team, what we want to do and how we want to implement ourselves.
“The guys are definitely in it. A few guys want to get back into the Bok squad, others are just happy for the occasion. We want to do something special in front of our supporters.”
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Head coach John Dobson touched on the local support the All Blacks enjoy in the mother city and what he feels it will bring to the occasion.
“I know the All Blacks were blown away by [nearly] 5000 people being here last week.
“I understand the generation where it came from who is getting older…I didn’t expect to see that number.
“I hope some of those guys might support the All Blacks at Test level, but because they live in Cape Town they might support the Stormers.
“We haven’t spoken about it much, but it adds to the occasion, won’t it?
“We understand it. One of the things we spoke about was 1976 [when Western Province defeated the All Blacks]… It’s one of those big years like 1992 and 1994 in our lives, and what happened in the country at that stage, you can’t ignore it.
“We spoke about it, and that gives some context why there are people who might still support New Zealand.
“Much of it is generational because the dad supported the All Blacks and now the kids do as well and it adds to the narrative.”
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Players to watch:
For the Stormers: Jonathan Roche have not been a regular in the Stormers team, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to stake his claim partnering with captain Ruhan Nel. The halfback combination of Imad Khan and debutant Yaqeen Ahmed will have plenty of responsibility on them, whilst Evan Roos, Neethling Fouche and Andre-Hugo Venter will also put their best foot forward to earn Bok recalls ahead of the Test series.
For New Zealand: Josh Moorby were in sensational form during Super Rugby and is a lethal finisher. His selection at fullback makes him a running threat coming up against World Cup winner Warrick Gelant. Rieko Ioane’s inside knowledge of playing the Stormers in his stint with Leinster will be key. Samisoni Taukei’aho have a golden opportunity to impress Rennie given the loss of George Bell and Codie Taylor currently struggling with a minor niggle.
*See the teams and prediction below!
Prediction:
Rugby365: All Blacks by 18 points
Teams:
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (captain), 12 Jonathan Roche, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Yaqeen Ahmed, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Connor Evans, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Vernon Matongo.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotzé, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ruan Ackermann, 20 Keke Morabe, 21 Wandile Mlaba, 22 Dewaldt Duvenage, 23 Wandisile Simelane.
New Zealand: 15 Josh Moorby, 14 Leroy Carter, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Anton Leinert-Brown, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Peter Lakai, 7 Anton Segner, 6 Simon Parker, 5 Patrick Tuipulotu, 4 Fabian Holland, 3 Pasilio Tosi, 2 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 1 George Bower.
Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Ollie Norris, 18 Siale Lauaki, 19 Sam Darry, 20 Ethan Blackadder, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Josh Jacomb, 23 Caleb Clarke
Date: Friday, August 7
Venue: DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Kick-off: 19.00 SAST (17.00 GMT; 05.00 NZST Saturday, August 8)
Expected weather: Sunny during the day with a high of 18 and low of nine degrees Celsius and winds of nine kilometres per hour.
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Matthew Carley (England), Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)
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