Dwyer's View

Stormers Dominate at Newlands.

Newlands Stadium. Saturday, 6^th March, 2010.

by Bob Dwyer.

This was how rugby should be played!

In both attack and defence, the Stormers gave the Highlanders - and I hope many other teams around the world - a lesson in rugby. They had pace, skill and continuity in attack and composure, urgency and aggression in defence.

I’ve said before today, and indeed a number of times in this column, that quality attack requires alignment - and realignment, continuity -with urgency in the recycle, and the application of perfect technique under pressure - to minimize any errors. I’ve said further that one of the hallmarks of such quality attack is the ball being consistently passed from #9 to #10, rather than the mundane and boring #9 to a (generally stationary) forward. None of this is terribly difficult, always given that the opposition defence has a say in any ultimate success.

For the Stormers attack, it became obvious from the start, that they preferred the transfer of ball from the tackle contest to be from scrum-half, Dewaldt Duvenage, to fly-half, Peter Grant. You may say that this is obvious, but indeed it happens so rarely that I find reason to express my praise and surprise. The scrum-half is required to be agile and quick, with good hand-eye coordination and to handle the ‘bobbling’ ball and close pressure from the defence very well. We choose players with these qualities for this position. We must demand, therefore, that they fulfill this role. An old coach of mine, from many years ago, used say that the scrum-half must “nail himself to the ball”, so that, where ever the ball was, the scrum-half must be nearby.  Duvenage filled this role admirably and his individual performance was significant in this excellent performance by his team. He passed accurately “off the ground”, with no wind up. He had speed to the ball at the tackle contest. He distributed the ball or ran with it, with extreme urgency and purpose. Scrum-half is essentially a “restricted position” and Duvenage, thank the Lord, seemed to understand this.

Peter Grant clearly understands the fly-half position and was virtually always in that role - one pass away from the scrum-half, not too wide or too deep, but correctly aligned to move those players outside of him, onto the attack. Sometimes these were forwards and at other times backs, but he brought them all onto the pass at pace and threatening the defence. He always chased his pass and was therefore always available for a second touch or to take advantage of urgently recycled ball.

All of this may sound a little pedantic, but it is essential that we understand the fundamentals which underpinned this excellent attacking performance by the Stormers. There is an old adage which says that “there is no defence to perfect attack” and the Highlanders, so far this season a competitive team, certainly struggled to defend against this Stormers performance.

Let us examine the first try by the Stormers after 14 minutes. “Lineout ball won by Stormers on Highlanders throw. Ball from Duvenage to Grant running on to the pass. He feints to pass but attacks the line. Ball is recycled immediately. Duvenage runs and links with Schalk Burger then on to Andries Becker. The lock makes a half break and off-loads to winger, Sireli Naqelevuli. He also recycles immediately and hooker, Deon Fourie, picks and drives for the line.” The try occurred on the fourth phase and took less than 30 secs, from start to finish – with no time for the defensive line to re-set. This is less than the time it takes a lot of scrum-halves to clear one ball from the back of the tackle contest!

It wasn’t like this for the whole game from the Stormers. They frequently used the driving maul, thereby posing an entirely different question to the Highlanders defence. Indeed, this tactic was so effective that it gave the Stormers two tries, one to Schalk Burger in the 60^th minute and the other to replacement backrower, Peter Louw, in the 68^th minute. The distraught Highlanders had no answer.

When it was the Highlanders turn to use the ball, the Stormers simply dominated the defensive line. They consistently had numbers at the contest, with shoulders and leg-drive in the tackle. Subsequently, the Highlanders could develop no momentum and rarely looked to threaten. Certainly they worked hard, with Cowan, Thompson and Donnelly all striving for some “go forward”, but the Stormers defence not only stopped them, but frequently drove them backwards. Their hooker, Jason Rutledge, normally a most effective ball-carrier, lost more yards than he gained in his many ball carries. In this area of the game, Schalk Burger, returning from injury, was simply dominant. He had a huge work-rate and his contribution at the tackle line meant that the Highlanders were consistently “stopped in their tracks”.

The Stormers were perhaps best served by Habana, Jacque Fourie, Grant, Duvenage, Vermeulen, Burger and hooker, Deon Fourie, but, in reality, every player contributed. I think that I’ll give my man-of-the-match award to scrum-half, Dewaldt Duvenage. He made everything else possible.

This year’s Super 14 is a tough competition; after only four rounds, no team has four wins. The outstanding Bulls are still undefeated, but had the bye this weekend, leaving them with three wins from three. Indeed, there is no side that is not competitive and the bottom teams, Sharks, Lions and Force, will still surprise a few of the more fancied sides.

On the evidence of Saturday’s performance, the Stormers will surely test the very best of them.

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