Coetzee: Physicality the key factor
Stormers’ head coach Allister Coetzee believes his players’ physicality was the deciding factor in the team’s 20-17 victory over the Bulls at Newlands on Saturday.
He was pleased that the team’s gameplan had led to the narrow win and the points spread had not been important
“It just puts everything into perspective,” Coetzee said. “At this stage of the competition we don’t want to win by 40 points or 50 points or 60 points. We want to win every game.
“The Springbok coach [Heyneke Meyer] said it when he got appointed. There’s only two gameplans; there’s winning rugby or losing rugby.
“And that’s where we are as a Stormers’ side. The aim is to still win games, whether you are in tight spots or you start well.”
Coetzee added: “It’s a quality Bulls’ side. They will come back. If you become a little inaccurate they will capitalise on mistakes and come back.
“But it’s pleasing to note that this Stormers’ side showed a lot of composure under pressure.
“The impact off the bench was really great and they pulled it through. It’s a 22-man effort and I’m proud of the team and the result.”
The coach believed the strategy of kicking contestable kicks rather than kicking deep or for touch had paid off.
“We had a plan and I think our plan worked really well – to kick as contestable as we can. We made one or two mistakes, obviously, but our kicking plan was spot-on and we handled their aerial attack really well.”
Commenting on the Bulls’ try by Bjorn Basson after the Stormers had been strongly on attack, Coetzee said: “It was a 14-point turnaround. We were on attack and Juan [de Jongh] made an offload which obviously didn’t go to Dewaldt [Duvenage] and they scored on the other side.”
But he had been happy with the team’s attacking play, explaining: “I thought our attack was really good. We actually dominated the advantage line. We ran at them and there were holes. We had the most tackle breaks and most line breaks in the game.
“We just need to finish our opportunities, but just creating them against a quality Bulls’ side shows that we’re at the right place.
“We’ve got a few things to fix – we need to become clinical and execute and finish those opportunities.”
Tight defence was very important, he believed, “but it’s not that we’re playing off the back of our defence; it’s got to be there to create our opportunities to attack better”.
In Coetzee’s view the Stormers’ players’ physicality had been decisive.
“This Bulls’ pack bullied the Reds last weekend. The deciding factor was the physicality. You don’t beat the Bulls if you don’t front up physically. It was an outstanding performance in the first half, the way we took the points, the way we were accurate and also physically put them back in our defence.”
The young players coming through in the Stormers’ system had been drawing abundant praise but while very pleased with their contribution, Coetzee was at pains to emphasise the leadership of his core of senior players.
“Our motto is ‘big team, little me’. The youngsters and the senior players all know they’ve got to play for the team. The young players are old enough to play at this level. The senior players are taking the lead.”
He said the exuberance, energy and enthusiasm of the youth was being nurtured by the leadership of the senior players to create a successful team.
Coetzee acknowledged that there was a tough road ahead, starting with a very tough four-match tour.
“We’ve achieved nothing yet as a group of players in this competition,” he concluded. “We’ve laid a good foundation and we’ve got to keep building on this foundation.”
By Len Kaplan at Newlands
