The Sonny Bill blues

1 Outshine him

Sonny Bill Williams likes a little attention. ‘Code hopper’ and ‘offload’ have become as synonymous as Eddie Jones and mind games. It might be too much to expect to outshine SBW in this department, but it can be done. The Stormers can show off with beautiful running lines and stepping because, well, SBW is not exactly known for that. And they can certainly compete when it comes to offloads. Did anybody mention EW Viljoen and Dillyn Leyds?

2 Never mind the ankles, go higher

If the ankles fall, the man falls. It’s something that is coached into rugby players from a very young age – tackle the ball-carrier around the ankles. This is the one aspect of rugby coaching that has been completely rubbished by SBW. It’s not the most difficult thing in the world to bring him down, but it’s those hands … those hands are the problem. It’s his ability to get the ball away whether he’s still on his feet or flat on his back. So the Stormers should aim to dislodge the ball, never mind his feet. Better yet, serve him a chop tackle so memorable right across the chest that he’ll think twice about moving into space to receive the ball again.

3 Halt that glide

Okay, so SBW isn’t a threat of note when it comes to his running lines, but he has this ability to glide across the turf that seems to distract opponents. Apart from the fact that he looks good while doing it, it gives him time to look around as he swings his head this way and that way looking for his support runners. That shouldn’t be allowed to happen at Newlands on Friday. The Stormers should be on him as soon as he gets to grip the ball in those hands. Close him down. Remove his space. Get in his way (but be careful when doing that, not all teams get away with being offside like a certain black-and-red New Zealand team does). If there’s no space, who knows, SBW might just go MIA.