Stormers XXIII defence coach Pine Pienaar and centre Josh Boulle are determined to right the wrongs from their heavy defeat to Boland when they host the Sharks XV on Saturday.
The Stormers opened their Currie Cup campaign with a 25-19 victory against Griquas in Cape Town before suffering a humbling 41-3 defeat to the Cavaliers in Wellington last Sunday.
Their defensive shortcomings were laid bare as they conceded six tries, missed 34 tackles and finished with a tackle success rate of just 75%.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s clash, Pienaar said the Stormers’ defensive display against Boland fell well below the standards the team has set over the years.
“The Stormers have a certain DNA, especially when it comes to our defence, and it’s something we definitely want to honour,” he said.
“Unfortunately, Sunday wasn’t a reflection of what I think this side can be. A week earlier against Griquas we showed that collective physicality and collective system.
“Against Boland they were able to move the contact point much better than us and we were too slow to get there.
“One disappointing aspect was the collision battle. As defence coach, I’ll take full responsibility for that.”
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Pienaar identified the lack of line speed and dominant tackles as key reasons for the disappointing performance.
“We were just too slow,” he said. “We couldn’t get our line speed going, we couldn’t make quality tackles and, credit to Boland, from the outset they put us under pressure.
“We struggled to find something that normally gives us energy. Our defence usually feeds our energy and we couldn’t get that right.
“That’s something we can work on and it’s something we’ve got to honour and make sure we’re better at this Saturday.”
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Boulle echoed his coach’s assessment, saying the Stormers must rediscover the physicality they showed against Griquas.
“Boland are a class team and, as Coach Pine said, the ball was extremely fast, so we couldn’t really get into our system,” he said.
“We need to get back to the system we had against Griquas, where we were physical and dominant in the collisions.
“From there we were able to get our line speed going and our whole system flowed.
“We’ll look to get back to that this weekend.”
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The Stormers face a Sharks side that opened their campaign with a win against the Pumas in Nelspruit before losing to the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein last week.
“To play two weeks in a row away from home and come away with one win is actually a fantastic start for them,” said Pienaar. “They’ve shown they can compete away from home, so the pressure will be on us.
“They’ve got a similar mix to us of experienced players and youngsters coming through.
“The score against the Cheetahs maybe reflected something different, but they were in that game and it only got away from them in the last 20 minutes.
“They’ve shown what they can do. They’ve got a fantastic set-piece, quality carriers, an exciting back three and a quality nine and 10.
“It’s going to be a massive challenge and a massive battle for us.”
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
The post ‘Slow’ Stormers seek line speed appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Stormers XXIII defence coach Pine Pienaar and centre Josh Boulle are determined to right the wrongs from their heavy defeat to Boland when they host the Sharks XV on Saturday.
The post ‘Slow’ Stormers seek line speed appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
