Jake White says John Dobson’s decision to put six forwards on the DHL Stormers’ bench is a great compliment to the Vodacom Bulls pack ahead of the north-south derby in Cape Town on Friday. DYLAN JACK reports.
As they have done for a large part of the season, the Stormers continued with their ‘Bomb Squad’ of six forward replacements for Friday’s clash. Godlen Masimla and Clayton Blommetjies are the only backline reserves.
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By contrast, the Bulls have opted for a five-three split between forwards and backs on the bench.
The Stormers’ approach was noted by White: “They have six forwards on the bench. It’s great for Bulls rugby that the Stormers in a derby game have to put six forwards on the bench, don’t you think?
“It’s like the old days, you have to put six forwards on the bench to play the Bulls.
“I am just stating the obvious. It reminds me of the old Northern Transvaal versus Western Province games, when they saw the Northern Transvaal pack of forwards as a strength. It’s a great compliment to us as a group that those sort of images and fears are re-thought about. It’s something we pride ourselves on. It’s part of our DNA.
“I am not surprised that the Stormers are picking six forwards on the bench. It’s a great compliment to us and where we are as a team,” the Bulls chief added..
“We are young. We have locks and props in their early 20s. It’s a great place to be and a great feather in our cap.”
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A major talking point going into Friday’s clash is the fact that the Stormers are unbeaten in their last three games against the Vodacom Bulls, including last season’s final.
However, White moved to set the record straight, while prepping the Vodacom Bulls for a maul assault from the hosts.
“Stats are like a bikini. Sometimes it covers the parts that you want to see and exposes the parts that you don’t want to see. If you look at the last three games, we lost to the Stormers. But since I’ve been here we have faced them 12 times and won eight of those.
“It depends which side of the fence you want to look at. We beat them in the last game at Newlands, when it was a hallowed turf. We beat them in the very first game at Cape Town Stadium.
“We didn’t look at the final in isolation. We know what the Stormers do.
“They have five World Cup winners in their group, even though Herschel Jantjies is out this weekend. They have nine or 10 Springboks, a style that suits their strong pack of forwards.
“They scrum for the penalty, kick to the corner and maul for tries. That’s hasn’t changed in a long time. It’s been like that over the last two or three years.
“We know what we need to do. We know what we did well to get success against them.”
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Photo: Christiaan Kotze/BackpagePix
