S15 Preview: Round Sixteen, Part Two
The feast of Super Rugby derbies continues on Saturday, with a couple of banana skin fixtures wrapping up the weekend's action.
The Force will bid an emotional farewell to lock legend Nathan Sharpe when they take on the Brumbies, which makes it a tricky challenge for Jake White's team who are fighting to stay on top of the Australian conference.
From there the focus shifts to South Africa where the Stormers will be looking to keep their place at the top of the South African conference when they host the lowly Lions at Newlands.
The last game of the weekend will see the Cheetahs travel to Pretoria where they will try and run the Bulls off their feet.
We take a closer look at the matches:
Force v Brumbies
(nib Stadium, Perth – Kick-off: 17.40; 09.40 GMT)
The Force and the Brumbies will have different reasons to play well in Perth on Saturday – the Brumbies are looking to secure a place in the play-offs, and while the Force are out of the running they will playing for veteran Nathan Sharpe who is playing his last home game.
Sharpe is the most capped Super Rugby player ever, and he has been with the Force since they joined the competition, so they are likely to play with some fire in their last home game of the season.
The Brumbies have been a far more consistent team this year, and they have built their campaign on forward domination, so the battle up front with the solid Force pack could be key.
The Force have battled to finish their opportunities this season, and they are in for another fierce test of their attacking efficiency against a Brumbies side that has been very impressive as a defensive unit.
The Brumbies backline have shown what a threat they can be if they get a good platform, and they will be keen to stamp their authority on a relatively inexperienced Force combination.
Recents results:
2012: Brumbies won 19-17 in Canberra
2011: 13-13 draw in Perth
2011: Force won 27-19 in Canberra
2010: Brumbies won 24-15 in Perth
2009: Force won 25-16 in Canberra
2008: Force won 29-22 in Perth
2007: Brumbies won 14-12 in Canberra
2006: Brumbies won 25-10 in Perth
Prediction: The Force will play hard, but they lack the cutting edge to capitalise and the Brumbies should take advantage to win this one by about seven points.
Teams:
Western Force: 15 Alfie Mafi, 14 Nick Cummins, 13 Will Tupou, 12 Rory Sidey, 11 Napolioni Nalaga, 10 Ben Seymour, 9 Josh Holmes, 8 Matt Hodgson, 7 David Pocock (captain), 6 Richard Brown, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Toby Lynn, 3 Salesi Manu, 2 Nathan Charles, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Tetera Faulkner, 18 TBC19 Phoenix Battye, 20 Lachlan McCaffrey, 21 Brett Sheehan, 22 David Harvey.
Brumbies: 15 Robbie Coleman, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Andrew Smith, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Jesse Mogg, 10 Zack Holmes, 9 Nic White, 8 Ben Mowen (captain), 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Scott Fardy, 3 Dan Palmer, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Replacements: 16 Anthony Hegarty, 17 Ruaidhri Murphy, 18 Leon Power, 19 Ita Vaea, 20 Ian Prior, 21 Tevita Kuridrani, 22 Cam Crawford.
Referee: Ian Smith (Australia)
Assistant referees: James Leckie (Australia), Ed Martin (Australia)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)
Stormers v Lions
(Newlands, Cape Town – Kick-off: 17.05; 15.05 GMT)
The Lions players have probably had the busiest three-week break of all the teams, as they staged a revolution to oust their hard-nosed coach John Mitchell, and they travel to Cape Town without much to lose.
After a woeful season the Lions lifted themselves to surprise the Sharks in the last game before the Test window, and they have another opportunity to stun a big name when they take on the conference-leading Stormers at home.
If the Lions play with the same amount of accuracy as they did against the Sharks then it should be a good test of the Stormers' defensive system, but the hosts will start as overwhelming favourites despite their injury concerns.
The Stormers will want to take control in the set-pieces, and despite having key players like Steven Kithoff, Eben Etzebeth and Rynhardt Elstadt unavailable this week their strategy will not change and they will be out to bully the Lions pack.
The Lions will play a high-tempo game and look to boss the Stormers at the breakdown and secure quick ball, which means that the home team's new openside flank Tyrone Holmes will have an important role to play on his Newlands debut.
While the Stormers forwards have not had much continuity the backline is fairly settled, and they will be keen to take advantage of an erratic Lions combination.
Although they do not have as many quality players the Lions will play without much pressure and always raise their game against South African teams so the Stormers will have to be accurate if they are to take control.
Recents results:
2012: Stormers won 24-19 in Johannesburg
2011: Stormers won 33-19 in Johannesburg
2011: Stormers won 19-16 in Cape Town
2010: Stormers won 26-13 in Johannesburg
2009: Stormers won 56-18 in Cape Town
2008: Stormers won 22-13 in Johannesburg
2007: Stormers won 30-8 in Cape Town
2006: Stormers won 23-12 in Johannesburg
2005: Stormers won 25-20 in Cape Town
2004: Stormers won 28-23 in Johannesburg
Prediction: The Lions will play with freedom and could threaten, but they lack the consistency to beat a disciplined Stormers outfit that we believe will win by ten points.
Teams:
Stormers: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Gerhard van den Heever, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Siya Kolisi, 7 Don Armand, 6 Tyrone Holmes, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 De Kock Steenkamp, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Deon Carstens.
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Quinn Roux, 19 Jebb Sinclair, 20 Louis Schrueder, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Bryan Habana.
Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Butch James, 11 Anthonie Volminck, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Joshua Strauss (captain), 7 Grant Hattingh, 6 Derick Minnie, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Hendrik Roodt, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 CJ van der Linde/Ruaan Dreyer, 18 Ruan Botha, 19 Jaco Kriel, 20 Michael Bondesio, 21 Waylon Murray, 22 Ruan Combrinck.
Referee: Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Francisco Pastrana (Argentina), Jason Jaftha (South Africa)
TMO: Gerrie Coetzee (South Africa)
Bulls v Cheetahs
(Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria – Kick-off: 19.10; 17.10 GMT)
The Cheetahs arrive in Pretoria on Saturday hoping to avenge the 51-19 humiliation that the Bulls dished out to them in Bloemfontein earlier this season.
The Free State side are out of the running for a play-off spot, but they have had three weeks to prepare for this match and they will be intent on surprising a Bulls team that will be under pressure to deliver at home.
The Pretoria side will look to shove the visitors around up front, as without the injured Coenie Oosthuizen and with Edinburgh-bound tighthead WP Nel on the bench the Cheetahs lack experience in the front row.
Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has picked a team that is set to play at a high pace, and they are clearly seeking to move the big Bulls pack around as much as possible in order to take advantage of the running and handling skills at their disposal.
Star openside flank will be keen to prove that he deserves a spot in the Springbok squad, whilst in the backline there will be an interesting battle at outside centre with Robert Ebersohn up against the bigger but less experienced JJ Engelbrecht who was picked in the Bok squad.
The Bulls will be desperate to assert physical and territorial dominance over the Cheetahs, and will turn to structure and set-piece dominance in order to contain and suffocate the visitors who thrive on broken play.
While the Cheetahs have some players who will want to prove that they should not have been overlooked for the Bok squad, the Bulls have some players who need to lift their form to justify their place in the side which should make for an intriguing battle.
Recents results:
2012: Bulls won 51-19 in Bloemfontein
2011: Bulls won 32-21 in Pretoria
2011: Bulls won 25-23 in Bloemfontein
2010: Bulls won 51-34 in Bloemfontein
2009: Bulls won 29-20 in Pretoria
2008: Bulls won 60-20 in Bloemfontein
2007: Bulls won 24-20 in Pretoria
2006: Bulls won 30-18 in Bloemfontein
Prediction: The Cheetahs will play with energy and may stretch the Bulls out wide if they get some early momentum, but the Bulls' power will be too much at Loftus so we are backing them to win by seven points.
Teams:
Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies (captain), 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Dewald Potgieter, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Willie Wepener, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 19 CJ Stander, 20 Jano Vermaak, 21 Louis Fouché, 22 Francois Venter.
Cheetahs: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Philip Snyman, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Rocco Jansen, 10 Riaan Smit, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Trevor Nyakane.
Replacements: 16 Hercu Liebenberg, 17 WP Nel, 18 George Earle, 19 Justin Downey, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Sias Ebersohn, 22 Nico Scheepers.
Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Sindile Mayende (South Africa), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)
TMO: Johann Meuwesen (South Africa)
By Michael de Vries
