Thank goodness for the Newlands crowd

Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit, as well as the sizable Newlands crowd helped the Stormers beat the Bulls. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky, BackpagePix

Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit, as well as the sizable Newlands crowd helped the Stormers beat the Bulls. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky, BackpagePix

Published Feb 27, 2017

Share

Really, Sunwolves?

They played at home, in front of their own fans and in familiar surroundings, but they still copped a beating – a 83-17 defeat at the hands of the Hurricanes, last year’s winners. And men like Dane Coles didn’t even start the match.

It’s all good and well that Sanzaar want to expand the competition, but it helps no-one when a team takes a beating like the Wolves did on Saturday. What a joke.

Are Auckland’s blues over?

They were the back-to-back competition winners when Super Rugby was launched all those years ago but haven’t reached the same heights again.

In fact, the men from Auckland have at times been something of an embarrassment to New Zealand rugby, but they appear to be on the road back. The Blues showed some promising signs last year under new coach Tana Umaga and on Saturday whipped the Rebels 56-18 in Melbourne to make an early statement.

Aussies need help

Coach Robert du Preez and the Sharks will be kicking themselves for allowing the Reds to snatch the win in Brisbane.

There was plenty made of the stronger, better Reds before the competition, but they were not much better than what we saw last year and added to that, the Western Force, Waratahs, Brumbies and Rebels also didn’t produce much for the competition’s best teams to be worried about.

Locked in

Sadly Lood de Jager cried off with an injury but even before then, it was the Stormers duo of Pieter-Steph du Toit, and Eben Etzebeth who won the eagerly-awaited showdown against De Jager and RG Snyman. The Stormers second was monumental in everything they did against the Bulls at Newlands and they showed they won’t easily be matched for physicality and work rate this season.

The good news is South Africa is blessed with quality locks.

Crowd trouble

Thank goodness for the Newlands crowd, who we’re sure contributed significantly towards the performance dished up by their Stormers team against the Bulls.

They were fired up and eager to see their team in action; sadly in Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth, that was not the case.

The Currie Cup champions were up against last year’s Super Rugby runners-up yet only the diehards turned up to cheer them on – and that in good weather in mid-afternoon – while in PE it didn’t look like many people even knew, or cared, that there was a Super Rugby game going on.

The Star

Related Topics: