The ruthlessness of the Vodacom Bulls’ unstructured play, and the DHL Stormers’ ability to quash it, could decide the outcome of the local derby in Cape Town on Saturday.
This is according to Bulls director of rugby Jake White, who is desperate to snap a six-game losing run in the Vodacom URC against John Dobson’s charges at Cape Town Stadium.
Stormers scrumhalf Paul de Wet is under no illusion that a highly motivated Bulls lie in wait for the Capetonians, and focused on shutting down the threat of playmakers like Willie le Roux, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie.
It will be the first north-south clash between the two teams since last season’s quarter-finals, which the Stormers won 33-21 in the Mother City, as the SA Shield rivals do battle in round 8 of the URC.
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White has given nothing away on team selection this week, while highlighting a few areas other than the set piece that The Herd will look to exploit over the course of the duel.
“We will compete hard there, but the statistics actually show that the Stormers have an efficient lineout. They may not be as good there as before, but statistically they still stack up well against other teams,” he told reporters in a Bulls conference on Wednesday.
“I wouldn’t say it’s an area we can exploit, but it’s an area where we can put pressure on them.
“[But] because we have guys like Willie le Roux, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Johan Goosen and Embrose Papier, having the ball in broken play is also a strong point that we don’t want to move away from.
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“We don’t want to kick the ball out and create structured play when our play from unstructured play is precisely one of the areas where we excel.”
De Wet added: “You can’t get too emotional about this match. Everyone here really wants this win, but we know they will be heavily motivated after those tough encounters we had with them.
“But we are focusing on ourselves and to be better with every game. We have our goals that we want to reach.
“A physical and strong Bulls side awaits us, but they also have this new type of game that they play. It will be a big game, and it’s exactly what we expect.”
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