Stormers to 'attack' the detractors
The Stormers may be struggling to score tries, but coach Allister Coetzee believes his team is not too far away from producing a vastly improved attacking display.
Despite sitting in fourth place on the global standings (third if the conference system is taken out of the equation), only one team has scored fewer tries than the men from Cape Town.
The bottom-placed Lions, with 15 tries, is the only team who have crossed the tryline on fewer occasions than the Stormers (17). Their strike rate pales in comparison to the table-topping Bulls’ 36 tries – which is matched by only one other team, the Hurricanes.
Coetzee believes his team will soon make their detractors eat their words.
“We are at the tipping point, and we just need to get the balance right, we can’t attack at all costs,” Coetzee said.
“If one looks at the results you’ll see attack-minded teams are losing games.
“Our backline is getting limited opportunities. We have systems and if players do their own thing mistakes can be costly.”
* As expected, Coetzee has turned to the Western Province Vodacom Cup side to solve the squad’s loose forward crisis.
He has called up Nick Fenton-Wells and Don Armand, but he’ll make a call later in the week about which one will be included in Saturday’s matchday squad against the Waratahs.
“Both players are flanks and essentially we need a No.8. Don [Armand] gives is us a line-out option and Nick [Fenton-Wells] is a genuine forager, a scavenger at the breakdowns,” said Coetzee.
“One of them will make the squad and the other will return to Province to play in the Vodacom Cup Final against Griquas on Friday.
“It’s tough to be drawing players from a team that is preparing for a Final, but that’s the way it is.
“I have not stopped looking elsewhere for loose forward reinforcements.
“It’s important to look abroad, because really we need someone that can offer what we get from a player like Duane Vermeulen or Nick Koster.
“What we are doing at this stage [of the injury dilemma] is to change the roles of players.
“Siya Kolisi is one such player in point and he’ll keep going all the time, and do what is required.
“But we need to manage players like him or else he’ll also break down.”
Coetzee said he was very pleased with the performance of Canadian loose forward Jebb Sinclair, on loan from London Irish, who made his Super Rugby debut for the Stormers against the Cheetahs at the weekend.
“It’s still too early in the week to say he’ll be in the starting line-up against the Waratahs,” said Coetzee.
“But he won’t let the side down. He’s done so well considering he was not at all our training sessions last week but we got what we expected from an international player. He played on instinct.”
SAPA
