Stander vows to recover after being bloodied by Billy The Bully
CJ STANDER holds his hands up for what happened at Twickenham eight days ago. A single England forward steamrolling for more metres than the entire starting Ireland pack simply wasn’t good enough.
Billy ‘The Bully’ Vunipola skittled Irish resistance in London, making 94 metres off 17 carries in contrast to the Ireland eight’s 79 metres off 44 carries. The disappointing thing was how Joe Schmidt’s forwards should have twigged what was coming.
In Rome almost two weeks earlier, the rampaging No8 clocked 113 metres off 41 carries versus Italy to embarrass the rest of his fellow starting English pack who between them managed a paltry 47 metres off 55 carries.
However, no amount of analysis could provide Ireland with a foolproof blueprint to disrupt the championship’s most prolific ball-hogger, Vunipola once again putting his colleagues to shame as the seven others in his pack managed just 59 metres off 39 carries.
‘We gave him an easy ride and lost the collisions against him,’ admitted a chastened Stander, whose own ballcarrying took a backward step as a consequence. ‘He’s a big player and someone like him, you need to chop him and take him to the deck.
‘This game was a bit more about my defence. I had to make more tackles than I am used to (11 of 12 were successful) and I didn’t have a lot of ball. I’d eight or nine carries (nine for a meagre 14 metres) – that’s probably one of my lowest.’
Stander did stop Vunipola scoring a first-half try, bundling his nemesis into touch. However, the concession of six penalty points blotted his copybook and there was no hiding from recrimination at the start of the week when Schmidt reviewed the third setback of Ireland’s most miserable February in the modern Test era.
‘We spoke about it. Joe said: “It’s unacceptable”. I knew straight away with the first penalty. I was too slow. I knew when I was there that It was going to be a penalty. And the next one… it’s just something I want to drive the standards and if I get something done against me, that’s a bad mark.
‘You start worrying about yourself but you need to drive on, need to fix that with a big tackle or a big carry.’
There could be temptation to bad-mouth officials for lack of protection, the latest incident seeing Mike Brown escape censure for his swinging boot which left Conor Murray needing stitches below his eye.
Stander, however, insists there can be no excuses for results that have left Ireland dangling in fifth place with no more than fleeting interest in the March 12 England-Wales title showdown (Stander fancies Wales to win).
‘You don’t want to get into refs. They have to make decisions in a split-second. Here and there, maybe a call went against us but it’s going to happen.
‘You have to adapt. That’s the game. It’s going to be unfair sometimes, but we have to control what we can and that is where we can make a step up… one point on the board doesn’t reflect what we are or what we can do.’
Stander’s parents and in-laws are due to fly in from South Africa to catch up with the new Test back row’s career in his adopted country. Home thoughts are seldom far from the mind of the 25-year-old reared on the family dairy and vegetable farm in George that used to be his playground. Every minute of school evenings and entire weekends was spent helping out, developing the work ethic that now underpins Ireland’s call.
‘I’m very passionate in my farming and it was great my dad gave me the free range. I even looked after the farm on my own when I was about 14. They went to Australia for three weeks and we have about 100 workers, about 600 hectares, I was looking after all that.
‘It was my who dad formed me into a leader, he gave me a lot of reins. That is probably where my leadership started,’ he said, recalling innocent times when he drove the farm pick-up truck along dead-end roads, even escaping a scolding after his dad learned he had damaged the vehicle when reversing into a rock.
Now the task is to reverse Ireland out of a dead-end title defence, starting with last place Italy.
‘We need to be aware of off-loads. I have played against (Sergio) Parisse, a guy I’ve a lot of respect for but, if you can slow him down, we will have a good game.’
That is badly needed after a Twickenham bashing from Billy The Bully.