Revenge will turn the air blue when Stormers welcome Cowan & Co to Newlands
THE BLUES are in town to win, not to grow their fan base.
It’s been almost three years since the Auckland-based team prepared for a Super Rugby clash in the shadow of Table Mountain. Given the popularity of New Zealand rugby in Cape Town, and the absence of the Crusaders from the Stormers’ 2015 schedule, one might have expected the Blues to leverage every opportunity to ensure that Newlands is packed with Kiwi-sympathisers on Saturday (kick-off 5.05pm).
That’s been standard operating procedure since the first local meeting between these sides in 1999, and the Blues boast a record of four wins from seven matches at Newlands.
On their most recent visit, in 2012, the tourists invited all and sundry to multiple training sessions where fans were able to thrust a pen and paper at anybody wearing a Blues jersey, and media requests were freely granted. The Blues lost that match 27-17.
Coach Pat Lam has since made way for John Kirwan, and a record of 13 wins from 32 games in two seasons appears to have narrowed the Blues’ focus to eliminate all sideshows.
The Sanzar regulations stipulate that a touring Super Rugby team must, at minimum, give the media 15 minutes of access to the team, and roll out at least one player, during the week. The Blues were scheduled to do just that, and no more, today.
Prop Charlie Faumuina and flanker Luke Braid are the two starters who have survived that 2012 loss in Cape Town, but it’s unlikely that they’ll be anywhere near as hungry to beat the Stormers as one other member of the Blues touring party. Three weeks after subduing the Blues, the Stormers ruined Jimmy Cowan’s 100th Super Rugby appearance by beating the Highlanders 21-6 in Dunedin.
Jean de Villiers congratulated Cowan at the post-match podium and gave him a Stormers jersey to commemorate the occasion. A picture of this jersey handover has been pinned to the Stormers’ meeting room ever since – perhaps as a reminder that being part of a losing team sullies even the greatest individual achievement.
Cowan will have a special appreciation for that point. He’s been stewing over it for two seasons, on two continents, turning out for Gloucester after the 2012 Super Rugby season and returning to New Zealand provincial side, Tasman, last year before being drafted into the Blues set-up.
But Cowan’s urge for revenge may be surpassed by Stormers captain Duane Vermeulen, Steven Kitshoff, Juan de Jongh and Rynhardt Elstadt.
These are the four current Stormers who started in a controversial 18-17 loss against the Blues in Auckland two years ago.
Elton Jantjies’ shanked drop goal in the 84th minute of that match consigned the tourists to defeat, but that disappointment soon turned to outrage when the Stormers were fined more than R200,000 after later being found guilty of having insulted touch judge Sheldon Eden-Whaitri during the previous weeks’ 18-17 win against the Hurricanes in Wellington.
The Stormers were unimpressed with the officiating in the loss against the Blues and, indeed, Eden-Whaitri’s assignment to a Stormers match one week after being verbally abused by the Cape side was a gross oversight by Sanzar. To say that the Stormers felt victimised is to understate their disillusionment with the Super Rugby governing body at that time. The reverse brought an end to a two-game winning streak, and sparked a run of three tour losses in a row.
Vermeulen won’t have forgotten that day and Cowan will want to get his own back.