Stormers to opt for a 'hybrid' game
PRE-SEASON BUILD-UP: It may not be the universally most popular tactics, but the Stormers will play to their strengths in 2020.
That means their Springbok-laden pack will be central to their goal of ending their Super Rugby drought.
Addressing the media at a pre-season briefing this week, coach John Dobson suggested they may employ a ‘hybrid’ game – where both their powerful forwards and X-factor back will come into their own.
“If you look at our personnel, we can say we would like to play or even copy the Springboks,” Dobson said.
“We have the kernel of that pack,” he said of a team that features Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (as captain), Frans Malherbe, Mbongeni Mbonambi and Steven Kitshoff.
“We have to use the set-piece.
“We have to use the maul.”
Dobson suggested that may have to go back to the traditional game that won Western Province five Currie Cups in a row – between 1982 and 1986.
He also spoke of their ‘X-factor backs’.
“We don’t have a Damian de Allende or a [Manu] Tuilagi,” the coach said.
“We need our pack to create momentum, to allow us to exit our half.
“Then, in their half, our pack will allow us to use our X-factor.”
(Watch from eight minutes 20 seconds on video)
Dobson said they won’t get people back to Newlands if they only play a forward dominated game.
“One of the interesting stats in rugby is the pass-kick ratio,” he said.
“New Zealand kick as much as anybody. They make three passes to kick and then kick in the wide channels to exit.
“[In contrast] the Springboks make no passes [to exit].
“We [the Stormers] will get out of our half.
“I am not sure what that ratio will be.
“In the [World Cup] Final Ben Youngs made 92 passes and the entire South African team made 67.
“We [the Stormers] probably want to be somewhere in between.”
Dobson said it is becoming increasingly clear you can’t play rugby in your own half.
“One of the challenges for the Stormers is we are trying to play a [high-paced] Super Rugby game.
“You are then training for three- or four-minute ball in play sessions. [As a result] your athletes become thinner, fitter.
“In the World Cup, the average sequence of play was under a minute.
“We have to get back our explosivity of power. You want Steven Kitshoff to run over people and Frans [Malherbe] to carry with venom.
“We have to focus less on getting ready for three- and four-minute sequences and try to get maximum output.
“That is the personnel we have.”
@king365ed
@rugby365com
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