Cheetahs plan to 'trick' the Stormers
Cheetahs backline coach Hawies Fourie has conjured up a few cunning plans to find a way through the Stormers’ watertight defence at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.
While the Cheetahs’ free attacking style of play has been hailed as a breath of fresh air, the stingy Stormers defensive system could their biggest challenge yet.
The Bloemfontein side stuttered to a victory over the Western Force last weekend, although the match lacked the usual attacking flair that makes the Cheetahs a joy to watch.
“We didn’t play well at all against the Force,” Fourie told this website. “We’re glad for the win, but we know we need to improve to beat the Stormers, who are one of the best sides in the competition.
“We haven’t shifted the gameplan [to a more conservative approach] and the problem was that the Force targeted the breakdown – sometimes legally and sometimes not. They were able to slow our ball down and make a mess of the breakdown, making it difficult to get our game going.”
Fourie admitted that the impressive Stormers defence is a concern given the way Allister Coetzee’s men have strangled opposition into submission this season.
However, the wily backline coach has some ideas about how to find a way past the Stormers defence.
“The Stormers have only conceded nine tires in nine games, so their defence is very well organised,” he explained.
“It’ll be tough to break open their defence, and a lot of teams have tried and failed this season, but we have a few plans up our sleeve that we’ll try on Saturday.”
The loss of star flyhalf Johan Goosen is a major blow to the Cheetahs, but this time last year Sias Ebersohn was making waves in Super Rugby and there is no reason to believe he can’t do that again.
“They’re both attacking flyhalves, although Johan has the stronger kicking game and gets a bit more distance. We’ll also miss Johan’s kicking at goal, because that’s been exceptional,” Fourie admitted when asked about the two pivots.
“Sias played well against the Force, but it was just his goal-kicking that let him down.”
While the awful penalty miss from in front of the posts against the Highlanders would haunt anybody, Ebersohn’s general play has been very good.
“He’s a confident guy and he handled it (the miss against the Highlanders) really well, so he’s not happy with his kicking for poles, but he hasn’t let that effect his overall game.”
By Timmy Hancox
