Reds v Stormers - Super Rugby Round 9, 2012

[Tangawizi]

With the Reds cavalry about to ride over the horizon and sweep down into the field of battle it's almost a shame we're not playing the Chiefs next up. Instead it's a tough match against the highflying & currently unbeaten Stormers side - who must first play a fired up Crusaders team in Christchurch this weekend.

With Lucas, Harris and Anthony Fainga'a all due back the Reds backline will look vastly different to the one that struggled & stuttered against the Brumbies. Though in truth the Reds backs are yet to really fire a shot in anger in 2012 with an alarming zero in the 4 try bonus point column at this stage of the season. Will these comebacks be enough to see it finally click into gear?

Adam Wallace-Harrison also looks set to return from a pre-season knee injury which could lead to further shuffling of the pack for this crucial match. While the Front 3 look fairly settled there'll be plenty of competition for the other spots in the pack. Will Link inject Samo back into the starting line up hoping the emotion of thousands of Fro Bro's & Sistas in the stands fires up him up into delivering a standout performance? http://www.redsrugby.com.au/NewsEvents/NewsArticles/tabid/581/ArticleID/6055/Default.aspx

Last season the Reds made the rest of competition sit up and take notice by knocking over the then undefeated Stormers 19-6 at Newlands. Can they deliver the goods again in 2012?

 

[RedsHappy]

We also beat the Stormers @ Suncorp in 2010, by a handful of points IIRC.

 

[Bowside]

Does anyone have the team list from the stormers game last year?

I would bring AWH onto the bench, start lucas at 10 and then weigh up between Harris, Taps and Fainga'a.

 

[Tiger]

If Harris, Fainga'a and Lucas are available to start I'd like to see this:

9. Genia
10. Lucas
11. Shipperly
12. Tapuai
13. Fainga'a
14. Morahan/Davies
15. Harris

The backline has looked its best so far this year when Lucas was at 10. I think we need Harris for his goalkicking, even though he doesn't offer a huge amount in counter-attack. Tapuai has been one of the best in a stuttering backline so he needs to stay. I think Fainga'a has been missed for his own defence and organisation of others

 

[Godfrey]

I think that's about right, though I would swap Harris and Lucas on defence as I think Benny is a better defensive fullback from what we've seen.

 

[Tangawizi]

Does anyone have the team list from the stormers game last year?

I would bring AWH onto the bench, start lucas at 10 and then weigh up between Harris, Taps and Fainga'a.

Last Year's Line Ups

Reds Team
1. Ben Daley 2. James Hanson 3. James Slipper 4. Rob Simmons 5. James Horwill 6. Radike Samo 7. Beau Robinson 8. Scott Higginbotham 9. Will Genia 10. Quade Cooper 11. Digby Ioane 12. Mike Harris 13. Anthony Fainga'a 14. Rod Davies 15. Luke Morahan Replacements 16. Saia Fainga'a 17. Guy Shepherdson 18. Adam Wallace-Harrison 19. Leroy Houston 20. Liam Gill 21. Ian Prior 22. Will Chambers

Stomers Team
1. Wicus Blaauw
2. Deon Fourie
3. Brok Harris
4. Rynhardt Elstadt
5. Andries Bekker
6. Schalk Burger
7. Francois Louw
8. Duane Vermeulen
9. Dewaldt Duvenage
10. Peter Grant
11. Bryan Habana
12. Juan de Jongh
13. Jaque Fourie
14. Danie Poolman
15. Gio Aplon


Replacements
16. Ethienne Reynecke
17. CJ van der Linde
18. De Kock Steenkamp
19. Nick Koster
20. Ricky Januarie
21. Gary Van Aswegen
22. Johann Sadie

 

[tigerland12]

I dont think Fainga'a will get rushed into the starting side straight away.

1- Holmes
2- Hanson
3- Slipper
4- Simmons
5- Horwill
6- Higginbotham
7- Gill
8- Shatz (if he is cleared to play)/Samo
9- Genia
10- Lucas
11- Davies
12- Harris
13- Tapuai
14- Shipperely
15- Morahan

Bench: Anae, Daley, Wallace-Harrison, Samo/Quirk, Robinson, Fainga'a, Toua/Frisby

Hard to judge what way we will approach the Stormers, breaking their line will be hard, so a territorial game might be an option. H

I'm also not sure on what backrow combination will suit best, and I guess it comes to the game plan. Robinson and Gill starting worked well against the Brumbies, but extra grunt might be needed against the likes of Vermuelen and Elstadt. Robinson or Shatz or Samo?!?

 

[spectator]

Early days yet but it will be good to see the return of the guys who are injured. Reds have to give some thoughts to bonus points as the ladder looks like it will continue to be crowded, and Lucas might be the best 10. option to get the backline attack going.

 

[Cakeboy]

Is Digby back for this game? if so surely he will start.

 

[suckerforred]

Is Digby back for this game? if so surely he will start.

No not back until the following week against the Blues.

 

[suckerforred]

Is Digby back for this game? if so surely he will start.

No not back until the following week against the Blues.

Edit - Ooops something strange happening.

 

[gel]

I am disinclined to believe that Harris and Lucas will be in a state worthy of a full match which is sure to be of a supremely high intensity.

As much as I would like to see the reds back to near full strength, I just can't see it happening and we will be playing (at best) the recent team with some of the returning stars on the bench.

The stormers have been playing brilliantly this season. I think possibly the only thing playing in the reds favor is that the stormers will be coming to suncorp after a very long tour of enzed against two very solid teams. If they win against the saders, they are more likely to be due a loss to be honest. If the saders win the stormers will treat it as a must win of the highest importance and the reds will be smashed.

I would dearly love the reds to win this one and sincerely hope that they start returning to the style of rugby we have become accustomed to of recent years, but my brain is having trouble picturing it happening.

Short version: the result is entirely up to the stormers and the reds will have little to no say in it.

 

[Brisbok]

The stormers have been playing brilliantly this season. I think possibly the only thing playing in the reds favor is that the stormers will be coming to suncorp after a very long tour of enzed against two very solid teams. If they win against the saders, they are more likely to be due a loss to be honest. If the saders win the stormers will treat it as a must win of the highest importance and the reds will be smashed.

Agree Gel. If you consider that the Stormers had a bruising encounter at home to the Bulls before they embarked on the tour, they would have played 3 of the more physical teams in the competition in a row by the time they face the Reds. That is a very big ask.

The Stormers have also relied largely upon the same players for all of their 6 games played so far and you would think that at some stage they will have to start rotating these players if they want to avoid player burnout by the middle to latter part of the tournament. I will be very interested to see the team's selected for their next few games.

 

[tigerland12]

I'm saying this after watching about half of the Stormers games this year, there is no way in hell we can beat them. And thats not me being pessimistic but the Stormers have just been brutal in defence.

 

[Ignoto]

I don't see Anthony being promoted to the starting team just yet. As a few have posted, his match fitness will be raw so I'd prefer him to be given a 20-30 minute go. Additionally, coming up against the Stormers, you want to be defensively sound. While Davies and Morahan are great attacking weapons, their defence is always found wanting. I'd prefer Toua to be at 15 than Morahan/Davies. He was impressive in his 50+ minutes on Friday and helped plug a leaky ship in our backline.

In the forwards, Beau should be starting. Gill's in good form, but he needs to realise how costly his mistake was. While I think Gill has more talent than Beau, Beau wears his emotions on his sleeve and gets the boys fired up. Our forwards have been shown up for three weeks this year (two against South African teams) so we need to win the collisions to get on the front foot.

 

[AlexH]

A full strength Reds side would be a reasonable prospect to knock off the Stormers. I highly doubt we will beat them this time around but if we can count on any team in the competition to surprise us its the Reds.

 

[tranquility]

They have got to lose at some point. What better time, that at the end of a grueling tour against the Reds at Suncorp?

 

[suckerforred]

They have got to lose at some point. What better time, that at the end of a grueling tour against the Reds at Suncorp?

I love your confidence......

 

[Ruggo]

Our quickness will be the key in this game. We have our forward options for this game and we need to work on tiring the big stormers forwards with pace then picking them off later in the game. We need to get our shit together at lineout time for this one.

 

[RedsHappy]

We only beat the Stormers in 2010 and 2011 through superior cunning in game planning and related tactical execution accuracy, not 'beating them at their own game', quite the contrary. We set smarter traps for them, that they didn't see coming. Their classic strengths of offensive defense were just as evident in both those years, but this year their attack is better, fresher.

Again in 2012, of course our defense v Stormers must be exemplary. But the only way to a win is 'clever' and the art of even better surprise, nothing else will work against a side of this power and disciplined organization. The key Reds' skills will be ones of game planning, ones of unsettling, confusing, and a new pattern that the Stormers aren't rehearsed for. See various chapters of The Art of War.