Can Du Preez be hero at No 10 for Stormers?
Besides Peter Grant’s performance against the Waratahs in 2010, the Stormers haven’t had a No 10 who took a playoff match by the scruff of the neck, says John Goliath.
|||Cape Town - A match-winner at flyhalf - that’s what the Stormers would really value. And, as they prepare for their Super Rugby quarter-final against the Chiefs at Newlands on Saturday, they will harbour a little envy when they take stock of Aaron Cruden, a proven pivot, in the opposition ranks.
The Stormers have had quality packs of forwards and outside backs in recent years. And their combinations have been good enough to get them to playoffs, and even one final, but not any silverware.
This season the Cape side, due to injuries, have largely had to resort to fairly raw incumbents in the No 10 jersey, and in Robert du Preez, Jean-Luc du Plessis and Brandon Thomson, they do have a trio of talented flyhalves.
But, besides Peter Grant’s performance in the semi-final against the Waratahs at Newlands in 2010, the Stormers haven’t had a No 10 who has taken a playoff match by the scruff of the neck.
So, the scenario which sees Du Preez inserted into the starting line-up for Saturday’s high-stakes shootout after having played in only the Stormers’ first two matches of the campaign is not ideal. He spent weeks out, injured, and has played a couple of Currie Cup matches since returning to action last month.
Coach Robbie Fleck reckoned that physically 22-year-old Du Preez was up to the task, and he got the nod ahead of Thomson (with Kurt Coleman and Du Plessis both injured).The question hovering over Du Preez is whether he will turn it on amid the intensity of a playoff in his side’s first match against a New Zealand side this season.Du Preez scored 23 points in the Stormers’ impressive win against the Bulls in the first game of the campaign.
But he got injured in the second match against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.He probably would not have featured in the match-day 23 this week had Du Plessis not suffered an ankle injury last week against the Kings, because Thomson has played some good rugby off the bench.
But Fleck believes that Du Preez has a bit more experience, while Thomson knows his second-half role inside out these days.Steaks rare and undercooked are fine, however, not flyhalves... especially not against a New Zealand side who are relentless in the physicality stakes. Fleck, though, is confident Du Preez will be fine.
”Rob unfortunately missed out last weekend because of illness, but he is match fit. Obviously he hasn’t played Super Rugby for some time, but he has had a few minutes under the belt,” Fleck said.
”He has been thrown into the deep end, so he has to deliver.”
Du Preez was erratic in his previous big match - last year’s Currie Cup final against the Lions. In fact he was actually terrible for about 35 minutes of the first half - he missed two kicks at goal, kicked a penalty over the deadball line instead of into touch and hoofed a ball from a tighthead in the scrum straight into touch.But he did finish the half with a fantastic try, when he showed his strength to break two tackles to score.
Fleck, says Du Preez took a lot of lessons from that match, and that experience will help him in the Newlands cauldron tomorrow night. “We need our halfbacks to control the game, and we believe that all four of those guys (the two starting plus the replacements) can deliver the goods,” Fleck said.
Du Preez and the Stormers have basically nothing to lose on Saturday night, because the Chiefs are firm favourites to win the match. But such is the nature, and beauty, of knockout rugby that anything can happen on the day.
This is the sort of match where heroes are born. Can Du Preez be a rare hero at No 10 for the Stormers? We’ll know by about 9pm tomorrow night.
TEAMS FOR NEWLANDS
Stormers: 15 Jaco Taute, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Schalk Burger (co-captain), 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Ezebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Alistair Vermaak.Bench: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Frans Malherbe (co-captain), 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Rynhardt Elstadt, 21 Nizaam Carr, 22 Louis Schreuder, 23 Brandon Thomson
Chiefs: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Sam McNicol, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Stephen Donald, 11 James Lowe, 10 Aaron Cruden (co-capt), 9 Brad Weber, 8 Tom Sanders, 7 Sam Cane (co-capt), 6 Taleni Seu, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Atu Moli, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Kane Hames. Bench: 16 Hika Elliot, 17 Siegfried Fisi’ihoi, 18 Mitchell Graham, 19 Tevita Koloamatangi, 20 Lachlan Boshier, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Toni Pulu, 23 Shaun Stevenson.
Kick-off: 7pm
Cape Argus