Golden chance for Kurt Coleman
LOUIS SCHREUDER called him “a flippen good baller” yesterday. Now the time has come for Kurt Coleman to show that he should be the Stormers' firstchoice flyhalf.
Coleman will make his first start of the season as part of four changes to the Stormers’ line-up for tomorrow clash against the Chiefs at Newlands (kickoff 3pm).
Scrumhalf Schreuder will accompany Coleman in the run-on team, as coach Allister Coetzee decided to give Nic Groom and Demetri Catrakilis a break after they started the first four matches of the campaign.
It’s certainly a bold move to rest his regular halfbacks for a game of this magnitude against the leaders of the New Zealand conference. But Coleman, especially, has been due a crack at a starting berth because he will certainly test opposition defences a lot more than Catrakilis.
Catrakilis has been a match winner in the past, having helped Western Province to two Currie Cup titles in the last three years. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes and is highly efficient off the kicking tee. The distances he gets with his punts have also improved out of sight.
But he can be a tad predictable, and doesn’t really get his backs going by attacking the gainline or making sound decisions when he arrives there. In short, he rarely troubles defences.
Coleman, on the other hand, is the type of player who will make the odd mistake. But he is also the type of player who can win you a match with the ball in his hand and, these days, with his right boot as well.
Coleman is a classy distributor of the ball, but also has lovely feet to beat defenders at close quarters. And over the last 12 months his goalkicking has been really good, as he enjoyed a 90% success rate in the Currie Cup.
He also showed that he can handle the pressure of the big moments when he kicked an important conversion against the Lions that meant a penalty would not be enough for the Johannesburg side to secure a victory.
Coetzee said yesterday that the selection of Coleman is because of the team’s rotation policy and his good showing off the bench so far this season.
“The halfback combination off the bench has really done well. They have either won the game in the last minute for us or closed it out. I think they deserve a start, and that is how we function, with a squad men- tality,” Coetzee said yesterday.
“Rotation has got to do with the timing. Groomy and Demetri have played four matches on the trot, and if you look at the warm-up game they have gone five on the trot.”
But Coleman’s selection could also be because of the afternoon kickoff, which normally makes it easier for teams to spread the ball and attack with speed and width.
The Stormers have shown signs of attacking intent this season, but they have been hampered by problems with their attacking breakdown and a misfiring lineout. The breakdown was a lot better last weekend against the Sharks, and there is a feeling that Coleman will make better use of good, front-foot ball.
“Demetri’s has come along in leaps and bounds with the attack too. (But) I know that is maybe something that Kurt enjoys and not something that he has to make a mindset change about,” Coetzee said.
“Taking it to the line, he (Kurt) is the natural guy and it’s good to see that his kicking has come along nicely.
“It’s things you have to weigh up. But it’s good to have an attacking-minded flyhalf. Kurt has improved in the kicking department and it makes it easier to make this kind of selection.”
The Chiefs will be hurting after their loss to the Highlanders last weekend. The former champions roughed up the Dunedin side at scrum time, but they just couldn’t convert their set-piece dominance into points.
The Chiefs will certainly be the Stormers’ biggest test of the season so far, as they have a scrum that can mix it up with the Cape outfit, and a good lineout that will put pressure on Scarra Ntubeni’s throw-ins.
So there’s more to the Chiefs than just a certain Sonny Bill Williams.
“The Chiefs are a quality side and they have a big variation on attack, and that makes them a difficult side to prepare against,” Coetzee said.
“You have got to pitch up well-prepared and front up, not just for Sonny Bill, but because they have got a good set piece and good game breakers all around. They have a go at the opposition and that makes them threatening.”
The exciting Kobus van Wyk returns to the Stormers side on the right wing to take on the Chiefs in place of Johnny Kotze, who is nursing a shoulder injury. Upfront, Eben Etzebeth will have his “compulsory resting time” and will be replaced by Jean Kleyn in the second row. The big and promising Ruan Botha comes onto the bench.