Player watch: Louw v Stegmann
Last week Louw was omitted from the Springboks’ 37-man national planning group, which took place this past Sunday and Monday in Durban.
It wasn’t unexpected as the Stormers flank has clearly fallen out of favour with Peter de Villiers for unexplained reasons, but it was a surprise given his consistent form over the last two years.
Louw is expected to move to Bath after this season, and these stats show exactly why he’ll be such a big loss to the Cape franchise and South African rugby in general.
The Stormers produced another poor performance when the pressure was on against a big team, but Louw can’t be blamed.
Deon Stegmann was chosen ahead of Louw for the November tour last year, and the former’s stats indicate he had a higher work-rate at Newlands.
The pair are similar players on the ground and at the breakdown, although Louw does offer much more with ball in hand and at the line-out.
Louw attempted 15 tackles and made 13, 12 of which were on the upper body of the opposition in an attempt to stop or disrupt the offload. The two misses came on his left-hand side.
Stegmann made 18 of 22 attempted – with all four missed on his right hand side.
Stegmann’s side was forced to make more tackles with the Stormers dominating possession, with Stegmann the standout for the Bulls.
Louw forced two pilfers, while Stegmann couldn’t make any.
Defence is not Louw’s only strength, with his ability with ball in hand also a boon for any side.
Louw made three passes (Stegmann none), one offload and eight runs for a total of 49 metres. Stegmann made two runs in making five metres, while Louw’s gainline efficiency of 50 percent was also higher than Pierre Spies and Schalk Burger on the day.
* To see all stats and video of Louw, click here.
