The Vodacom Bulls and Stormers will bring 20-plus Springboks and old-school tribal edge to a derby where form rarely matters, writes MARK KEOHANE.
Writing for TimesLIVE, Keohane says Saturday’s Pretoria meeting should mirror January’s brutal Cape Town clash, when the Stormers edged the Bulls 13-8 after the scores were level at 78 minutes.
However, at sea level in Cape Town the tempo slows and the contest becomes an arm-wrestle built on set-piece and territory. Loftus changes the dynamic.
“The thin air in Pretoria is seductive for many a visiting team in the first quarter,” Keohane writes, before adding that by the closing stages the altitude drains the lungs.
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Both sides possess attacking pedigree through their halfbacks. The Bulls rely on the form of Embrose Papier and the composure of Handré Pollard, while the Stormers have built much of their season around flyhalves Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Jurie Matthee.
But derby rugby rarely allows elaborate attacking plans to flourish.
“Extravagance takes a back seat to set-piece simplicity,” Keohane notes.
The Bulls have momentum after Vodacom URC wins against the Lions and Sharks, while the Stormers seek a response after three successive defeats. Yet Keohane warns against prediction.
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“Rip up the form book, ignore individual player pedigree,” he writes, because when Bulls meet Stormers the only certainty is intensity.
Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
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The Vodacom Bulls and Stormers will bring 20-plus Springboks and old-school tribal edge to a derby where form rarely matters, writes @mark_keohane
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