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Continuity is key to unlocking Stormers attack

rugby18 April 2019 06:12| © Cycle Lab
By:JJ Harmse
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Dillyn Leyds © Gallo Images

The win remains the biggest imperative in a tightly fought conference but there will nonetheless be a big focus on the DHL Stormers’ attacking game when they begin an extended home leg of Vodacom Super Rugby against the Brumbies at Newlands at the weekend.

The Cape side scored almost half as many tries as they’d managed in their seven other matches combined when they crossed for five in their important win over the Rebels in their final tour match in Melbourne last Friday. It is true that in some cases they might have been lucky, such as the intercept try towards the end, but then luck had been against them earlier on their tour of Australasia.

Dillyn Leyds in particular had been an inspiration as an attacking force in some of the previous games, and the try that was laid on for replacement Josh Stander in the game against the Blues would surely feature on any tournament highlights package were it not for the fact that it didn't stand because of a forward pass.

It was moments like that assistant coach Paul Feeney was referring to when he said in the lead up to the Melbourne game that maybe the Stormers just needed some luck, a bit of the old rub of the green, as the biggest step to unlocking their attack. And the confidence that the Stormers suddenly seemed to be imbued with once Leyds had crossed for a superb individual try early in the AAMI Stadium game appeared to underline Feeney’s point.

Apart from Leyds there were other individuals at the back who started coming good, none more so than former Blitzbok star Ruhan Nel, who had a quiet early part to the season. Damian de Allende, maligned in some quarters for a tendency to make mistakes, played his best game of the season and looked like the international player he is.

The upshot was an all-round showing where for the first time in a long while it felt like almost everything the Stormers touched could turn to gold. It wasn’t a night where they dominated possession, but they made the most of their chances - they still had one denied by millimetres of white chalk - and in the end were unlucky not to net a try scoring bonus point.

Was that a case of the Stormers turning the corner and the attack coming together to ease the nerves of the highly regarded and gifted but new at this level backline coach Dawie Snyman? Fleck appears to think so, and he reckons his policy of continuity in selection at the back is paying off.

“It did feel like a lot of the individual backs found form in Melbourne and that is important for us,” said Fleck.

“It was important for the backline to come together and to gain confidence and that is why we have not been making too many changes there. We struggled at the back, and with our attacking game generally, but we are now finding confidence on attack.”

The coach singled out Leyds as an example of a player who is benefitting from being able to build confidence by playing week after week.

“It’s all about game time for Dillyn, he’s getting used to playing regularly again, and he is starting to head back to the form he showed two years ago,” agreed the coach.

His reference to two years ago is the purple patch Leyds enjoyed at the start of the 2017 season where it seemed he couldn’t put a foot wrong and where he produced some sublime plays. Just like the missed Stander try, where Leyds chased his kick and showed a brilliance you usually associate with New Zealanders, stands out in the memory bank, so does his off-load in a thrilling Stormers win over the just under 24 months ago.

That was when Leyds propelled himself into the Springbok team, then coached by Allister Coetzee, and Fleck reckons that Leyds is now doing enough to be noticed and rewarded by Coetzee’s successor, Rassie Erasmus.

“Dillyn was outstanding back then, no-one will forget that off-load in the Chiefs game, it was what earned him a Bok call-up, and he is getting back to that form. He created a few opportunities in the Blues game, and was only just denied from converting them by bad luck. Since moving to the wing he has controlled the game out there.”

While Fleck feels he has been vindicated for keeping the backs the same, there are nonetheless still questions that can be asked, and it will be interesting to see what selection he comes up at flyhalf for Saturday’s clash with the Brumbies. Jean-Luc du Plessis was good in the first half against the Rebels, but then again made mistakes once he started to try to inject some flamboyance into his game.

He was replaced by Stander, who turned in a solid performance at pivot, and also kicked a morale-boosting monster penalty at a psychologically important juncture in the game.

First prize for many Stormers fans, and they do have a point given Damian Willemse’s strengths, would be to have the fullback move to flyhalf, where he played his schoolboy rugby. Given that there is a dearth of promising young flyhalves in this country, and how Du Plessis struggled on tour, keeping Willemse at fullback makes even less sense than the Sharks’ decision to pigeon-hole the equally gifted Curwin Bosch as a No 15.

The difference between Bosch and Willemse is that Willemse knows he has a possible fullback role at the World Cup lined up for him, and for a while now he has been thinking like a fullback. It was effectively Erasmus’ decision to play him there, and the Stormers are following the plan mapped out by the national coach.

It does though beg a few questions, such as what happens if both Handre Pollard and Elton Jantjies, the two incumbent Bok flyhalves, both find themselves injured in the build-up to the World Cup? Such a scenario can eventuate, just as the Kiwis after the All Black experience in 2011.

Neither Du Plessis nor Robert du Preez, or for that matter the back-up pivots in the top franchises, have shown any international potential.

But Stander, who staked his claim with a strong showing in the Currie Cup, is also a viable alternative to Du Plessis.

“Josh was very effective when he played for us on tour, be it at 10 or 12, and it has been in our minds to give him a chance,” said Fleck.

A chance to start should come against the Brumbies, though it may not be at flyhalf. De Allende is surely due to sit out as per the Springbok resting protocols, so don’t be surprised if Du Plessis and Stander are selected together in the 10/12 decision-making axis when the Stormers team is announced at lunch time on Thursday.

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