Whitehead takes centre stage
17 Mar 2010
Tim Whitehead has replaced Juan de Jongh at No 12 while Willem de Waal is on the bench for Saturday’s clash with the Cheetahs.
After much debate, Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has decided to replace one versatile player with another. Like De Jongh, Whitehead is a Super 14 rookie and has played the majority of his rugby at No 13. He’ll be thrust into a starting role on debut, as Coetzee has neglected the safer option of starting De Waal at No 10 and shifting Grant to inside centre.
‘I’m not a gambling man and I have the greatest respect for the Cheetahs,’ Coetzee told keo.co.za when asked about the Whitehead selection. ‘I really feel it’s time to back our youngsters, and Tim can offer us a lot on attack and won’t let us down on defence.
‘He’s played a lot of Varsity Cup rugby and has already played three Vodacom Cup games this season. He featured in the pre-season matches against Stellenbosch and Boland. Tim’s a class player with a lot of time on the ball, and given the injuries we’ve had at No 12, we need someone like him coming through.
‘I didn’t want to bring Willem into the starting line-up because that would mean making two changes instead of one [by playing De Waal at No 10 and shifting Peter Grant to No 12]. Bash has played well at flyhalf and is the best man for this match.’
After two impressive showings, Sireli Naqelevuki is relegated to the bench. Gio Aplon didn’t start the Highlanders match because of flu and remained among the reserves for the Hurricanes fixture. Coetzee said it’s only fair that Aplon return to the starting line-up.
Coetzee has also decided to stick with the same pack that destroyed the Hurricanes. Although Anton van Zyl is usually a No 5, he’s adapted well to the front lock position and is complementing Andries Bekker.
Conrad Hoffmann will play flyhalf for Western Province in Saturday’s Vodacom Cup game against Border, while Adriaan Fondse is listed among the reserves. Fondse has missed the last six months of rugby with a knee injury, but is expected to tour Australasia with the Stormers.
Centre Paul Bosch returned to the training field this week after successfully recovering from an arm injury suffered in the pre-season. Although Coetzee was encouraged by his return, the No 12 is unlikely to make the touring squad.
Stormers – 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger (c), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Anton van Zyl, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Subs: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 JC Kritzinger, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Pieter Louw, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Willem de Waal, 22 Sireli Naqelevuki.
By Jon Cardinelli
151 Comments
Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 » Show All
17 Mar 2010, 17:47 pm
@elliott2: hate to break it to you but the team only goes on the blog once in a blue moon… Lindsey does most of the work
17 Mar 2010, 17:49 pm
@PissAnt:
The Stormers pack is a juggernaut at the moment. That is the most ominous sign for their opponents. I don’t really rate their backline as that much of a threat. Partly due to Grant, who is average at best. And partly due to the lack of cohesion built up over many seasons in the same structures.
Duvenage is new, De Jong is new, Fourie is new, Habana is new, Pietersen is new and Naquelivuki has only recently showed up (mentally).
In contrast, Dippenaar, Hougaard and vd Heever have been training in the same Bulls set-up for years, even though they didn’t make the starting line ups on a regular basis before now.
17 Mar 2010, 17:50 pm
@elliott2: don’t think so
not many people stay there… like once in a while they’ll come on… Mishkah is on quite a bit, Carmel and hhmmm think that’s it
@PissAnt: neh they can do it some other week… who has a better shot at the semis? For the good of SA Rugby
17 Mar 2010, 17:55 pm
@Tacitus:
Yes Proudfoot has really been a revelation there. Fleck I do not know so much but hey, it is his first season.
They are starting to get things right there, and it is about time.
But the thing I find with the Stormers is that their scared of losing…
As an old saying goes, fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will make your greatest fears come true…
That will change with time of course, if they allow it to and not panic like they always do.
@SpringbokSarah:
Spoken like a true Blue & White supporter…
17 Mar 2010, 17:56 pm
@PissAnt:
Sorry, sick like a dog here and on drugs…
Their – they’re
17 Mar 2010, 17:57 pm
@PissAnt: aaaawww thanks man
17 Mar 2010, 18:01 pm
I’m off… cheers guys, hope you feel better PissAnt
17 Mar 2010, 18:04 pm
@SpringbokSarah:
Sarah, I am not talking about Flo( my favourite loosie), but about a Stormer poster who was based in Pretoria at the beginning of the 2008 S14 season called Flower(that was his nic).
17 Mar 2010, 18:06 pm
@elliott2: why on Earth would I call Flo, Flower? 1. He looks nothing like a flower and 2. I think he would shoot me.
I remember a Flower on the blog, but like I said, the haven’t been there in a while…
g2g bye
17 Mar 2010, 18:11 pm
@SpringbokSarah:
Have worked it out, your post #101 was referring to my pleading and vilifying Rassie comment ealier.
Sorry for the confusion of my post 108.
Have to go now .
17 Mar 2010, 18:38 pm
Good selection AC.
Glad you kept Grant at 10.
JC:
“After much debate, Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has decided to replace one versatile player with another.”
Debate amongst who? The Keo bloggers? Do you have any prove that there were much debate among AC and the others about who to select?
Trying to cover your tracks after punting for WdW to be selected, are you?
17 Mar 2010, 19:17 pm
Frikkie Welsh could have done the job at 10
17 Mar 2010, 19:23 pm
oops i mean 12
17 Mar 2010, 19:35 pm
@nama1:
Good question, to be fair to JC, WdW has made the bench ahead of players like Welsh and des Fountain so they must have discussed him and perhaps he is not far from starting a game.
Like on a wet,cold and windy day in New Zeeland perhaps?
It is great to hear that Bosch is back at training – he is a top class player who can distribute and defend and should soon be challenging for a place in the team.
@SpringbokSarah:
Flower Louw?? hehehe – If I were you I rather call him Blom(metjie)
17 Mar 2010, 19:53 pm
@nama1: @Robzim: an “impeccable source” informed jom cardinelli that there was much debate anout this selection.
17 Mar 2010, 21:08 pm
Ok, here goes.
I want 4 hospitality suite tickets for 15 May Bulls vs Stormers.
I can pay for them or exchange a weekend ( fiday and Saturday night)any time until September 2010 at our 4 star beachfront guesthouse in Wilderness. I am willing to offer 4pax (2 double rooms) including breakfast in exchange for this. Value R 4,800
June 23-26 we are fully booked with Japanese.
Let me know.
17 Mar 2010, 21:11 pm
Sorry
June 3 – 26 and if they qualify to 2 July
17 Mar 2010, 21:55 pm
good thinking AC I’m glad to see you got some kop of your own and you not just a feeble JW clone thinker. Glad you got the balls to call it right by sticking with Grant and Duvenhage and not tinker with a winning combination.
Glad you got enough courage to stick with the attack mode game and not revert to chicken rearward thinking re De Waal to stuff up all the momentum. Glad you got the guts to go with instinct and let the backline motor even with a rookie at 12 is way better than stuffing it all back into reverse gear.
17 Mar 2010, 21:59 pm
@SpringbokSarah: check rugbydump.com for the 5 drop goal highlights from 99.
am well please that AC has kept the majority of backline intact.
keeping grant at 10 and introducing a youngster to partner a bok incumbent is good practice. the motivation is clear. cheetahs will not know very much about whitehead and thus could put a bit more focus on the unknown, allowing fourie, habs, grant to dictate more.
going to be one epic battle between juan and schalk. without doubt the 2 biggest hardest loosies EVER
in fact i hope collins tunes in and grabs the popcorn coz this could be a gun show!
17 Mar 2010, 22:20 pm
@skopskiet:
Hi Skoppy,
I see de Waal has made it to the bench for Saturday. He is moving in, slowly but surely, it will only take one loss for the team and he will be back in the saddle. My prediction is that it will be during the third week of the overseas tour. Or maybe they will even be forced to give him a SOS on the bench on Saturday to come and pick up the pieces
On a more serious note; Grant was very good on Saturday, in fact, it was the best I ever saw him play.
I am however still not convinced that he is the man for the big occasion against the top teams – he failed too many times in the past and I am worried that it will happen again.
Just thinking about his kicking in the semi’s against the bulls last year is enough to let me break out in a cold sweat.
17 Mar 2010, 22:30 pm
To cheetahboytjie en Tacitus:
This is not the CC where SA refs rule and the Cheetahs beat us with Marius wanker!!!!
That is the only reason the cheaters do well in the cc… because of the refs…. so the S14 proofs this.
So Tac I take it you support the cheetahs this weekend? Good, then I will be here to blast you on Monday!
As for the rest of you: You seem to miss something very important!
Finally As and Fleckie makes Juan De jongh see he is not the only player in the Stormers backline. This kid got so much potential but probably cost us 2 bonus points with being so suinig on attack.. always hangs onto the ball. Maybe this will be a wake up call more than anything else. Dont know Tim, but I m sute this is only good for our rugby to have good competition for places in the team.
As for Naqelivuki….. keep him on the bench… he will lights out Daniller in the last 20 minutes….
Stormerslam!!!
17 Mar 2010, 23:02 pm
@Provvas: i am still on the fence with regard to de jong and his role in the stormers backline. sometimes it looks like he is trying to break the line by himself over and over again and not giving the ball wide.
but i have to wonder whether he has instruction to straighten the line every now and then to keep the defensive lines honest. if he keeps swinging it, the defence will just shut down fourie or the wings and force the turnover with more numbers. if he tries to take the line on and straighten he will give fourie more time and space for the other times when its on.
he is still newish to the 12 channel, and it looks like with some work he could develop his play there. the last thing stormers need is a 12 who just shunts the ball wide at every opportunity allowing the center and wings to get smashed. its a lot easier to defend those wider channels when you know that the ball is most likely gonna get sent there quickly.
he has to mix it up. not saying you dont agree but he has to build up all parts of his game equally or opposition teams will crack onto the strategy and shut the stormers down.
17 Mar 2010, 23:25 pm
Xkreni willing to trade R4800 worth of time share to watch his team get pomped like pampoene
17 Mar 2010, 23:29 pm
@skopskiet: He has decided to by R95 tickets.. he wishes to remain anonymous
17 Mar 2010, 23:40 pm
@skopskiet:
forgotten 75-14 so quickly?
17 Mar 2010, 23:44 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl:
It is a new era now.
Those days are over and it wont happen again soon
At least not within the next few years.
I would at this stage say the game at Newlands will be 50/50.
18 Mar 2010, 00:05 am
@The Almighty Shaun:
Like I said, give me your number…..
You remain pretty anonymous. I cannot find a way to contact you on your website other than filling in a form and giving my details.
Where in the UK do you stay? Are you listed? I would love to have a chat with you.
18 Mar 2010, 00:06 am
I am sure somehow I will get the box tickets. I always get what I want
18 Mar 2010, 00:14 am
@Robzim:
remember that afternoon like it was yesterday
18 Mar 2010, 00:21 am
Breaking News: I see Lionel Mapoe is trying to get out of his contract with the Cheetahs to come to the Bulls with immediate effect.
Yeah baby. Succession planning in motion.
18 Mar 2010, 00:22 am
@Tacitus: Does that make the Bulls the new Sharks?
18 Mar 2010, 00:24 am
@scar:
Not at all. They haven’t made him an offer.
It seems they expressed their interest at some point in the past, but because he was under contract, didn’t go any further. Now he is wanting to leave on his own volition, due to the fact that the Cheetahs are paying him the minimum allowable salary for a SA S14 player – R28500 per month.
This while the Bulls were reportedly willing to offer him R1.4m per year.
Anyway, it is for him to decide. If he comes to us, we certainly won’t take him if he is just after the money. But if he wants to make a lifelong career committment, then he is welcome in the Blue family.
18 Mar 2010, 00:28 am
Looking at those numbers just make my stomach turn. It just tells why the Cheetahs will always be the underdogs and no matter what morons like Povvas might write about referees, the Cheetahs have so much more to overcome to be competitive.
Unions like the Bulls (credit given to the brilliant rugby they are playing) will always have the advantage with cash in hand
18 Mar 2010, 00:46 am
bulls definately need a demon tackler out wide but lionel would do well to see the season out with the cheetahs first.
18 Mar 2010, 00:49 am
@scar: The bulls will pay him that amount to sit on the bench or play Vodacom cup.. Air (TV)Time is more valuable than R1.4million this early in your career… That is how nuch the bulls (Boere Network) is prepared to pay to kill off black talent.
18 Mar 2010, 01:02 am
Mapoe making the wrong call altogether should be heading South not North. Dunno what he sees as succession planning at that sterile franchise where they have players lined up in que’s on benches 1 behind the other and white gets right of way easy peasy like Fdp keeping Adams on his back burning *** for 6 seasons. Gary Botha just comes clicking his little overrated fingers and Ludeke bends over backwards to open wide so he can slide in through the back door uninhibited while Maku sits in the shadows making up the numbers.
No Lionel my boy you should be knocking on Rassie’s door, he won’t think twice to make the offer if Bulls are still deliberating. Then you can join the backline of all backlines, thats where you future lies not that sham shackled half knit non transforming pigment placade that pretends to be progressive but just simply isn’t. You should be joining Stormers. Just imagine this backine.
Duvenhage
Grant
Habana
De Jongh
Fourie
Mapoe
Pietersen
Thats world beating stuff, not that frazzle dazzle airy fairy tinkerbelle bull dust like
Fdp
Steyn
Hougaard
Olivier
Dippenaar
Van den Heever
Kirchner
No Mapoe you gotta open your eyes wide. South is the direction you should be heading, I’m telling you clearly if you want success to be your motto then give Rassie a call right now thats the direction you should be thinking without a doubt.
18 Mar 2010, 03:24 am
@skopskiet:
“thats where you future lies not that sham shackled half knit non transforming pigment placade that pretends to be progressive but just simply isn’t”
Why waste all the time typing that when you could have just said ‘the most successful franchise in world rugby at the moment’.
18 Mar 2010, 06:31 am
@skopskiet: 136
classic
18 Mar 2010, 06:36 am
@grant10:
He might be sitting on the bench at the Stromers as well. A bit light in the PDI’s this year.
Fiji does not qualify in my books. For that matter, Habs neither
18 Mar 2010, 07:07 am
@grant10:
138
What assurance do we have that De Jongh is really injured?
Most of the WP Die hard supporters told me the less than satisfactory production from the expensive Boks duo Hab and JF so far is blamed on De Jongh, it was expected that he is removed from the line up.
So I heard,,,
18 Mar 2010, 07:16 am
@Hondo: #140 you are clutching at straws Hondo…this is low even for a **** like you…
18 Mar 2010, 07:16 am
juan de jongh has been a revelation this year…..got better and better…..i reckon Jean de villiers may regret his Munster escapade….he may be having to go to the sharks or lions to resurrect his career now. Not sure Stormers will have the room …
18 Mar 2010, 07:17 am
bloody sharks…where is there team?
18 Mar 2010, 09:54 am
@grant10: That’s crazy talk. Jean would always be welcome at the Stormers and Juan does not come close.
18 Mar 2010, 10:00 am
This S14 is a 3 horse race:
Bulls – defence will be their undoing if not addressed.
Stormers – Great pack. Great defence. Attack could be their undoing.
Saders – good at everything, but wonder about their mental toughness.
18 Mar 2010, 10:18 am
And talk about putting unwanted pressure on your new boy! “Tim can offer us a lot on attack” and “Tim’s a class player with a lot of time on the ball”… you can just imagine Juan Smith thinking, “Isss iiit? Well see…”
18 Mar 2010, 10:40 am
shaun ..stop your k@k man
18 Mar 2010, 10:50 am
@seamus: …spot on..!!
18 Mar 2010, 11:29 am
I still think it was silly to dump Sireli on the bench for this match as it would have been wiser to start him at 13 then bring in a newboy with not much “high level” experience at that position, I bet 100% the cheetahs will target him. fourie and naqelevuki in the centres would have given the cheetahs a scare as Sireli’s linebreaks would easily help him set up tries for Gio and Fourie whereas now the cheetahs midfeild backs will target the stormers centres and because of that Fourie would have to work double time. No one in their right mind will attack Habana’s wing but they will now take chances on Gio’s wing….
18 Mar 2010, 11:49 am
@Tacitus: @9, I am seriously tired of this ****, 13.8 could never have been a SA Youth Record ( Boys U/18,17, 16,15 yrs), period. Marthinus Van der Vyver ran 13.35 in 2001.
Here are the links: www[dot]gbrathletics[dot]com/ic/wy.htm
and
www[dot]athletics[ot]org[dot]za/uploads/SAYouthRecords.pdf
I’m not saying the boy is a slouch but he broke or held no SA Record FFS!!!
Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.