Brok set to bolster Stormers scrum

INLSA

SHEER FORCE: Steven Kitshoff, Tiaan Liebenberg and Brok Harris get ready to hit the scrum machine during Stormers practice in Bellville yesterday. Harris packed down at tighthead prop for most of the session and is likely to start in Saturdays semi-final against the Sharks at Newlands. Photo: Jeffrey Abrahams

Ashfak Mohamed

BROK HARRIS looks set to reclaim the No 3 jersey for the Stormers in Saturday’s Super Rugby semi-final against the Sharks, while Duane Vermeulen has a “65 to 70 percent chance” of being ready.

Harris spent most of yesterday’s scrumming and lineout drills in the “starting” pack alongside Steven Kitshoff and Tiaan Liebenberg in the front row, with Frans Malherbe packing down with the reserves such as Don Armand and De Kock Steenkamp later in the session.

Malherbe has started at No 3 in the last four games, but has not been convincing, and his presence has coincided with the Stormers struggling in the scrums since the three-week June break against the Lions, Cheetahs and Rebels.

Harris is an experienced prop who is solid, if unspectacular, in the scrums, and coach Allister Coetzee confirmed after the practice yesterday that Harris could start against the all-Springbok front row of Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis and his brother Jannie.

“It will be a challenge against the Sharks front row. But bar one scrum in our last outing, it went fine. I’m not particularly worried about our scrumming. We are improving, and I’m looking for an even better performance this weekend,” the coach said.

“(Harris starting) is definitely still going to be an option, but I just think it was necessary to give Frans some starting time to develop and grow as a tighthead. It is great to have both of them in the mix. We also have a senior and youngster at loosehead with Kitsie and Deon (Carstens).”

Vermeulen sat out of practice yesterday after training at the two-day camp in Hermanus at the weekend, but Coetzee feels that the big No 8 still has a chance to play.

“After two big sessions, one had to take a step back again and see how the knee responds tomorrow. We are looking at having Duane back in training tomorrow again. It was just a way of getting him off his feet today, as you know that guys tend to push it a bit because of all the excitement – getting closer to the ball and on the field,” he said.

“He is still in the mix, and we will give him a run tomorrow. His chances, I would say, is 65 to 70 percent to play, which is not bad. He hasn’t taken contact yet. We have to make sure that he would be able to participate properly and produce a good performance instead of just getting the guy medically ready – and it’s nice to have his name on the team-sheet – and he’s not up to the standard.”

If Vermeulen doesn’t make it, Coetzee said that Deon Fourie will again pack down at No 8, as Schalk Burger and Nick Koster are not yet fit to play.

Coetzee pointed out that the Sharks put the Stormers under great pressure in the scrums and lineouts in the 25-20 defeat in Durban at the end of May. Stormers forwards coach Matthew Proudfoot put the pack through a lengthy session on the scrumming machine – appropriately dubbed the “Enforcer” – yesterday, while Andries Bekker also went through the various lineout plays.

Bekker will have his young partner, Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth, back in harness on Saturday, with the 20-year-old now finally over his shoulder and ankle injuries. Etzebeth will hope to be the Stormers’ enforcer at Newlands. “It’s important to have Eben back, as the Sharks have a massive pack of forwards. Even those coming off the bench will maintain that sort of big, powerful pack. But I am very comfortable with our pack,” Coetzee said.

“They did very well against us in the first half in Durban, to put us under pressure. That is what semi-finals are all about, and it is about how we handle that pressure. I felt that we did that quite well in our last couple of games. When we were under the cosh, we could come back from that and really handle the pressure, and still pull off a win in the end.

“The Sharks put a hell of a lot of pressure on our set piece. We had three defensive set pieces in our own half – two lineouts and one scrum – which got turned over.

“What we learnt is that they really go for you at set-piece time. If you had to ask the Reds, they would probably say the same thing – they couldn’t get their lineout ball on their own terms. It happened against the Crusaders last year for us as well, when they put Andries under a squeezing pressure. We need to be able to handle that.”