The Rolling Maul

The Stormers clinched the South African conference to join the Chiefs in the Super 15 finals, with six other teams fighting for the remaining four playoff spots after this weekend’s round.

Stormers struggled to beat the Cheetahs in a game where at times I felt both teams were trying to bore the opposition into submission. The weather also played a big part on a game that should have been recorded as a tool for insomniacs to use in times of need.

SBW sold the Chiefs down the river when he failed to pass to an overlap that could have cantered over with players to spare.

The Brumbies need one point from next Saturday’s home game with the lowly Auckland Blues to clinch the Australian conference and the third ranking spot in the playoffs. Jake White seems to have done a great job with these youngsters.

Crusaders are still in it and can quite easily go on to win the competition for the umpteenth time. They never seem to be far from the front runners.

The Sharks deservedly beat a lackluster Bulls team and this game raised some serious doubts in my mind about some players. Hougaardt seems to have an Achilles heel at the base of the scrum. He is often too slow in clearing when his team is on the backfoot, with kicks being charged down and being caught in possession. Morne Steyn has had a bad season generally with his kicks out of hand and at poles even though he is the top points scorer he could have done so much better. I don’t expect Meyer to change or bench him just yet. Spies was shown up for the umpteenth time when he was totally outclassed by a rampant Kankowski who played the best game I have ever seen him play. It is such a pity that he is so inconsistent. As for the Potgieter loosies, I think HM will have to make up his mind with difficult choices. Dewald is good but not better than some others, while Jacque is a far cry from his pre injury standard. Kolisi would have caused havoc as did Keegan Daniel. There are better players in the Bok squad for the Champions cup (Stupid name in my opinion). On this weekends performance I can see why Bis du Plessis is the no1 hooker. He was immense and was close to man of the match for me.

I know that winning games is always the main goal for any team, but going on the Stormers defensive choke the life out of the opposition brand of rugby, I don’t think they are good enough to win this competition. The loose forward combination is suspect with Kolisi carrying the load. Having to make do with makeshift combinations for a large part of this competition I think they are lucky to have done this well. The young tighthead Malherbe has been shown up in the scrums and he needs another year or three before he could deserve the praise he gets from some quarters. I’m also not overly convinced that flank is the right position for Elstadt. I preferred him at 4.