Bulls and Stormers' winning formulae make it an all South African Super 14 Final!
Orlando Stadium captured by Chris Botes/ Rugby15
On Saterday the Stormers reached their first Super 14 Final with the intensity and discipline of a championship winning team. They joined the Bulls in the final, who had earlier outclassed a very good yet tired Crusaders team. In any tournament, the teams that identify their winning system and have the discipline to stick to their plan almost always end up near the top. This has been very true for the Stormers and Bulls this year who, despite a few losses each, have stuck to their game plan week in and week out and have been successful for the majority of the Super 14.
In the first semi-final of the day, the Crusaders could not match their previous performance against the Bulls of two weeks ago. This week the Bulls out-muscled them and ran away with a convincing win. The Bulls kept to their winning formula of being ruthless in the contact points and dominant in the set pieces, and with Morne Steyn kicking well the Crusaders were always going to struggle to win.
The game started at a frenetic pace as the Bulls scored an early try after Deon Stegmann turned over a Crusaders attack which eventually led to Pierre Spies scoring under the poles. Despite the Bulls always leading the Crusaders we still in with a chance until Fourie du Preez smartly ran down the blind side of a scrum and scored in the corner. From that moment until the end the Bulls put the squeeze on and won the game comfortably 39-24.
In the other Super 14 semifinal the Stormers came up against the Waratahs and kept the Sydney side tryless – just as they did in their first encounter three months earlier – to finish with a convincing 25-6 win. The Stormers were committed and disciplined on defense and strong in all other aspects of the game; once again proving this strategy to be their winning formula.
After 25 minutes the game was tied at 6-6 and the Waratahs were starting to gain momentum; but with a moment of brilliance, Juan de Jongh brought the Newlands faithful to their feet as he side-stepped his way passed four Waratahs defenders to go over for the only try of the game and pushed the Stormers back into the lead.
For the rest of the game the Stormers were massive on defense and didn’t allow the Waratahs an opportunity to score any more points while Peter Grant kicked four more penalties as the score edged to 25-6. At this stage Allister Coetzee began substituting some of his top players, giving them a much needed rest as the Waratahs had no solution to crack the Stormers’ defense.
Leading up to the final on Saturday all South Africans should be happy with both possible outcomes as the Super 14 trophy will be staying in South Africa for the third time in the last four years. The Bulls will enter the game as favourites but we must not forget last year’s Currie Cup when these two teams met in the semi finals. On that occasion a high tackle leading to a monstrous penalty kick by Morne Steyn was the only difference between the teams as the Bulls won the game by a couple of points.
The Bulls should have the upper hand this Saturday with the stronger tight five and a team full of experienced players who are used to winning big games. But the match will be decided depending on how the Stormers’ defense performs. The Stormers have only conceded 17 tries in 14 games this season and will need another disciplined defensive performance come Saturday if they want to win their first senior rugby competition in 9 years. Any infringements on defense in their own half and the Stormers will likely concede three points through Morne Steyn’s boot.
The clash will see the two most consistent teams in this year’s Super 14 battle it out to become the champions of the Southern Hemisphere. Both teams will run onto the pitch confident that their current strategies and strengths will be enough to walk away with the trophy as a result proving the winning formula to Super 14 Rugby. You would be silly to miss it.
[Story by Jonathan Henning /Shaun Reznik @Rugby15]
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