Bloody Stormers!

I Am A STORMER - no questions asked... But geez they know how to throw games away sometimes!

Last night the guys snuck in 27-24 against the Reds in the Super 14 and I got the impression that if the game had gone on for another 5 minutes they would have lost it - this after having been up 27-10 and the Reds looking down and out.

Last week against the Sharks they also had a handy lead and lost it - apparently because Jean Devilliers was stretchered off the field. This time there was no key player lost so what was the excuse?!

My opinion - They just played like it was a game of wild schoolboy rugby and the Reds mopped it up and Quade Cooper thought Christmas had come early.

Missing out on that bonus point was B A D.

I appreciate that the Stormers like a running game of rugby, but you A) have to have the ball, B) you have to have the territory to play such a game. If you have neither it's pretty tough to consistently stay in the game... and it is not like the Reds did anything special to secure territory and possession - they just waited for the ball to be given to them.

• That hospital pass from Ricky Januarie to Andries Bekker in the first minute which the lock then tried to clear (which lead to the first Reds try) was the way the Stormers continued to play throughout the game.
• Schalk Brits (pictured) thinks he's some kind of backline player... Schalk - like Rassie has shown with Nick Koster - if he thinks you are a backline player, he will reinvent you... how about playing as a hooker please? I'm not a Brits fan - I rate hookers who can find their jumpers and do the basics right not on how many goose stepping, upside down flip passes they can deliver
• A perfect example was a chip and chase from Januarie after a lineout in the first half. The two chasers on to the ball - Brits and Naqelevuki. The Fijian ends up behind Brits - who is one of the shortest guys on the field - and the ball gets lost forward and the Reds make up about 10 - 15m when the
  
• When Januarie went off and Conradie came on, I don't think we got a single ball out of the scrums... Conradie needs to get up to game speed
• Brian Mujati is not a scrumhalf! Nor is Sireli Naqelevuki. Nor is Bekker, nor is Fondse - it is the guy that wears the number 9 jersey dammit...

But a win is a win and we're in the middle of the table after the first two games. The bonus point would have been useful though.

On the positives:

• Sireli Naqelevuki is back in the side and he brings something different to the backline
• Love or hate him - Luke Watson brought some value in with his performance
• Jean Devilliers is fit
• Peter Grant looks useful at flyhalf
• We have our first win of the season

Lots of work to do going forward though....

2008 SA Rugby awards

SA rugby honoured its players of 2008, at a function in Midrand last night.

Jean De villiers scooped the big awards and I don't think you can argue with Ricky Januarie picking up the try of the year!

The full list of award winners is listed below:



SA Rugby Player of the Year
Winner: Jean de Villiers (Western Province)

Young Player of the Year
Winner: Robert Ebersohn (Free State Cheetahs)

Players’ Player of the Year
Winner: Jean de Villiers (Western Province)

Team of the Year
Winner: Sharks (Vodacom Super 14 team)
Also nominated: Leopards, Sharks (Absa Currie Cup team), Blue Bulls, Stormers.

Coach of the Year
Winner: John Plumtree (Sharks, Absa Currie Cup)

Super 14 Player of the Year
Winner: Ryan Kankowski (Sharks)

Absa Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year
Winner: Jean Deysel (Sharks)
Absa Currie Cup First Division Player of the Year
Winner: Kennedy Tsimba (Griffons).

Vodacom Cup Player of the Year
Winner: Burton Francis (Blue Bulls)

SuperSport Try of the Year
Winner: Ricky Januarie (SA v New Zealand, Dunedin)

Sevens Player of the Year
Renfred Deysel

SA Under-20 Player of the Year
Robert Ebersohn (Free State Cheetahs)

Women’s Player of the Year
Lorinda Brown (Eastern Province)

National Club Champs Player of the Tournament
Lola Waka (Pukke)

Refereeing Achievement of the Year
Mark Lawrence

Craven Week Player of the Tournament
Sampie Mastriet (Boland)

Ricky Januarie

With the 'end' of the 2008 rugby season, a lot of rugby pundits have looked back and pointed out that Adrian Jacobs has been the star 'find' of the season and a testament to the coachs' faith in the player.

Somebody who I don't think has received enough credit is Ricky Januarie.

If I look back on 2008, the only try I can remember is his chip and chase effort which sealed the first ever Bok win in the "House of Pain" in New Zealand.

Over the weekend, he was good against the English.

Ricky plays an interesting role in the Springbok side in that he has to play second fiddle to Fourie Du Preez. But to have a backup scrummie of his quality is great.

He is a nuggety player who loves to get stuck in and I reckon he gave Ricki Flutey something of a hard time over the weekend whenever the English scrumhalf tried to get some momentum.

His 'bombers' onto the hapless Paul Sackey were brilliant as well.

Ricky Januarie - Definately the underrated player of the season for me...

Pretorius leaves the Lions for the Bulls

The Lions Rugby franchise has not been particularly good at talent retention in the last few years and I believe they have made a mistake selling Jaco Pretorius to the Blue Bulls.

(Most recently they sold off Ricky Janaurie and Conrad Jantjes two years back and bought Earl and Jody Rose into their squad).

In Louis Ludik and Jaco Pretorius, the Lions possessed two of the best utility backs in the country - two players that have regularly stood out despite indifferent performances from the rest of their squad.

To lose a player of Pretorius' calibre is going to be a big blow for the franchise in my opinion

Snappy service - Scrumhalf

Yesterday when the Springboks took on Argentina, the value of snappy service from Scrumhalf to Flyhalf was proven.

Ricky Januarie started the game at Scrumhalf with Butch James at flyhalf. Now Butch James isn't the smallest guy around and the defence around the fringes / flyhalf for the Argentinians is probably not as intimidating as say they All Blacks or the Australians.

Yet South Africa battled to break this first channel repeatedly and the first try (that came through this gap) was a fluffed pass from Januarie that Jean Devilliers recovered and went through.

The problem was the slow service from Januarie meant that James was taking it static and the flyhalf was then being swamped or play was "crabbing" sideways across the field.

When Fourie Du Preez came on, the game changed. James was getting snappy service before the Argentinians had recovered, he and the centres could then pick their gaps and hit them at speed.
Coach your scrumhalves to understand why they should be snapping the ball out as quickly as possible. Show them the value of hitting the opposition before the backline has fanned out and the half gaps in the first channels are still open while players either commit to the ruck or fall back.

It will make the world of difference to their game play.