Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Juan ready for claws to come out
Fleck has had enough of Bloem hoodoo
THE CHEETAHS are smarting from a disappointing home loss to begin the Super Rugby season, and Stormers co-captain Juan de Jongh expects his Free State counterpart, Francois Venter, to spearhead a backlash when the teams meet in Bloemfontein today (kickoff 5.15pm).
“You know they’re going to come out after what happened last week against the Jaguares,” said De Jongh. “They were up (by 21 points) and they’ll feel like that game slipped away from them.”
A 34-33 loss against the visiting Argentine team was made even more ignominious by the fact that the Jaguares conceded two yellow cards, and therefore played for 20 minutes without the full complement of World Cup halfbacks Martin Landajo and Nicolas Sanchez.
“The Cheetahs will come out firing, we know that, it’s not something that’s going to shock us,” the Stormers skipper added. “So it’s important that we bring our A-game, it’s going to be one helluva battle up there.”
As a centre combination, De Jongh and Johnny Kotze got their first taste of Super Rugby in last week’s 33-9 win against the Bulls at Newlands.
In the build-up, they took second billing to the visitors’ Springbok tandem of Jan Serfontein and Jesse Kriel, but after 80 minutes of play, the Stormers midfield emerged as the more influential of the two.
The tables have been turned this week as the Cheetahs centres defer to 14-Test De Jongh. “It’s going to be a very interesting battle,” said the line-straightening Stormers No 12. “Francois Venter
is the senior in their combination and he’s a physical bloke, and William Small-Smith can move a bit. We know what they bring to the party.”
Last year, De Jongh and fellow Bok midfield thumper Damian de Allende teamed up against Venter and Western Province discard Michael van der Spuy, and the Stormers suffered their third consecutive loss in Bloemfontein.
“The Cheetahs are a different team and we are starting on a clean slate with them, we don’t want to think about the past too much,” De Jongh said of the Stormers’ Free State hoodoo since 2012.
“This is a new team and we’re not going to dwell too much on what happened in the past,” added Stormers coach Robbie Fleck.
“We’ve lost three in a row up there, but we’re not going to go further than that – we’re not going to look into the reasons why we’ve lost those games.”
The Stormers lost those games because they fell into the trap of playing Cheetahs rugby. Naka Drotske may have been replaced by Franco Smith as the head coach, but the Bloemfontein side has not changed its philosophy.
“It’s part of their tradition to put you under pressure with a ball-in-hand approach and a wide-wide game,” said Fleck.
“They’re not going to change, they want to put bums on seats in Bloemfontein and we need to prepare for that.
“They like a high-tempo game, quick lineouts a n d quick taps. The ballin-
play was 30-odd minutes last week and it’ll be up to 40 minutes this week. Our conditioning is going to play a huge role, that is the challenge of playing the Cheetahs at altitude.”
The Bulls couldn’t keep up with the Stormers in the final 30 minutes at Newlands as the hosts kicked up a gear to score three tries.
Three scrumming superheroes came off the bench to spark that flurry, and Frans Malherbe, Scarra Ntubeni and JC Janse van Rensburg have been teed up for a repeat performance against the Cheetahs.
The plan to dominate the scrums is complemented by the lineout expertise of arguably the best second row in the competition.
“Eben Etzebeth and PieterSteph du Toit are a great lock combination” said Fleck.
“Last week was the first time they’ve played together for the Stormers; the contesting went very well and our lineouts worked effectively.
“I liked that they hunted in twos, they were always together, and it was almost like a budding Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha combination where they complemented each other’s strengths.”
Fleck appears to have found a blueprint for success designed around the set-piece prowess of a potent tight five. The quality of the plan will be affirmed if the Stormers snap a three-game slump in Bloemfontein, and clinch their first road win under referee Craig Joubert in eight attempts.