Bulls coach wary of Stormers ‘chaos’

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Assistant coach Chris Rossouw expects the Vodacom Bulls to control the big moments or risk being blown away by the DHL Stormers in the north-south derby against on Saturday.

The Bulls host the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld in the return clash of this season, following a 37-27 defeat for The Herd in Cape Town on 23 December.

The Stormers also won all three derbies last season, including the inaugural Vodacom United Rugby Championship final, with their balanced gameplan on attack and defence key to the Capetonians’ success.

“We all know that they love chaos, and they have exciting backs, but their defence has always been their source of energy,” Rossouw told reporters in the build up to this weekend’s clash in Pretoria.

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“It’s gone to the next level now and they’ve got the best defence in the competition. I think what happened after Covid-19 was the off-field stuff that distracted them.

“I think they’ve now found a way of how they want to play. I think [assistant coaches] Dawie [Snyman] and Norman [Laker] have done a great job.

“The way they want to play is that they want to give their backs some freedom to run, and they’ve been able to find a balance between running and kicking.

“That’s been built on a great defensive system, and it’s always been their strength.”

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He added: “There are so many transitions in the modern game, which is where the chaos comes in.

“Most teams are used to that, but that’s what they want, so we need to know we can put things into place, so that they can control those moments.

“Whoever can control those moments best is the one who’ll triumph at the end of the game.”

Rossouw also believes the team that can manage their emotions will go a long way to laying the platform for victory.

“Sometimes, it’s not about controlling the emotions, it’s about letting them in,” he said. “This is a special game and not everyone gets the privilege of playing in such a special game. We only get to play this game twice a year and we also had the final.

“It’s not about controlling the emotions, but it’s about sucking them in, and I think the same applies to them.

“They’ve [Stormers] come a long way and they’ve settled now, so there’ll be nothing better for us to test ourselves against them.”

Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix

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