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Stormers

Week 4

What can The Stormers do from here?

Super 14 Week 4

Nick, Gary, Allan - I really have to take some of the blame for the Stormers results. When I called you guys in September I was simply too polite. I would normally have been honest and direct. That might have led us to a different outcome. I took it on your word and reputations that you guys knew everything. I now know this to be perhaps not entirely true While you guys may know how to put together a Rugby team, you simply have not spent the same amount of time or energy as I have on Defense. Your problems were obvious from the very first game (before that actually), but you have made no effort to fix this. You have quite simply, after The Force, put together one of the worst Defenses in the Super 14. The is only one explanation - collectively, you simply can't see it.

1) Your physical conditioning is shocking. You are being out-muscled. Unfortunately there is very little you can do about this now. In this department we have no choice but to play it your way - Paffball. We will have to see what your secret plan unveils over the next two, very long months. However if you do not address this problem now, it will follow you into the Currie Cup and next Year's Super 14.

It is important obviously which way you defend, Drift or Rush, inside or out, narrow or wide But most important is intensity. Crusaders can get the intensity playing outwards, Bulls miss it coming inwards. Like conditioning, its too late to fix this now, but it will follow you forever. Without breakdown you can't get intensity, only over pursuit. No one that I have yet met in WP Rugby values Breakdown. Without the right conditioning, breakdown loses its sting. Its too late now for this, next year maybe..

2) There are some things that you CAN do about the situation. Here they are for Free:

i) Your gain line runners need urgent attention. The Stormers are light on Runners that can attack the advantage line. Britz, Burger, Barry. Without upsetting the defensive patterns with hard internal running, there simply isn't time or space left facing the current Defenses. Good luck on any attempts to make space without contact.

ii) Britz - Actually the ONLY true runner you have. Value him for any other purpose and you completely blunt your attack. He is running higher and higher. He has become ineffectual because he no longer hits. He is going to hurt himself this way. He needs "The Rope Exercise" to Lower his Centre of Gravity. Must develop a forward lean and dip. He is Carrying the Ball incorrectly, which is slowing him down. Needs to train Overhead Squats with Deep pause to develop Groin flexibility and explosive power. Hit and Spin. You can only Spin after you hit and drive with the legs. Spinning before you have unbalanced the Defender - just gives him a soft tackle. In exercises use the man behind tackle bag to assist the spin.

iii) Burger - not an ideal runner, there is no long term future for him in this role - but right now you don't have much else. He has legs like a girl, because he is training like a girl . Because of his physical limitations he tries to push himself over the top of the defense. Turns his shoulder away from the contact, loses battle to a lower centre of gravity. Looks like a primary school kid trying to jump over a wall. Same as ii) above but much more extreme, he needs to develop foot speed. Into heavy bag with feet pounding. Really needs assistance to develop a spin. Must be able to go down facing forward, ball coming back through his legs.

iv)Barry - underdeveloped in the Delts. He is avoiding Shoulder contact. Major problem is that he is trying to avoid the hit, to "run off" the Defender. Needs urgent attention to foot speed. He is too slow for anything other than accelerate- break down- dip- hit. Needs Rope exersise, but over much greater distance than ii) an iii) above.

Rope Exercise : 18 foot rope 90 triangle shape 3-4-5, one coach on each apex, start high, lower progressively - start slowly increase speed. Use variations of cone and bag, move in and out, centre of gravity low body leaning forward - high school stuff.

Defense 3) Barry - his problems with Over pursuit have now become disastrous. No shoulder in the tackle. No breakdown, head down, back curved. Feet leave the ground even when they don't have to - Os Du Randt style . Foot speed completely neglected. Exercises - Hurdle side shuffle, must be able to hit retreat, stay on feet keep head up. Keep hands up. Yep - Gary - he can't run backwards, so the play overruns him.

4) Shimmie, Moller, Andrews even Luke Watson. Need to come off the Defensive line faster. Tackle rate for the front row is abyssmal. There is no excuse here. Coaches simply don't get them into the right posture around the shoulder of the loose scrum. On goal line and rush, inside foot forward, outside arm back. The rest of them, there is not even any hope of achieving it. In general play get the hands up and keep them ready to engage. Little notion on working as a defensive unit in Channel one. Referees are allowing Shoulder defenders to "Creep" past the last man's leg, by notionally "holding on" to the loose scrum. Similarly allow man out side that to hold on to the man who is holding on. Watch Brumbies for extreme Creeping.

Exercises -18 foot rope doubles over - 4 players each 3 meters apart moving as a unit back forward shift left - shift right. Chopping, begining with slow feet in unison, getting faster. Chopping in press up position, Three point stance for really explosive Defensive Line. Head up. Need to practice Tackle from Left and Right, Tackling is a one-sided process. Must keep feet moving. Stormers make little effort to Shade to track the runner, that is why they appear flat footed.

5) Burger - Hurdle Shuffle exercise, must move sideways remaining in hitting position. 10 to 15 Metre shuffles. Lacks strength in his upper legs. He turns his back on the play and then cannot straighten in time to regain posture. This is where the high tackling and "grabbing" is coming from.

Week 5

There is so much wrong with the Stormers Defensive performance. I will focus for a moment on "The Breakdown". This is the action whereby a Defender, as he approaches the runner, sinks down to a lower centre of gravity, pounds his feet rapidly from side to side , sticks his ass out behind him, keeps his hands high, his head up, takes a relative position to the runner and prepares to deliver a hit from hell. You get no better an opportunity for this than when an opposing fullback takes the high ball. You get into position, wait for him to come down and take his head off. Do this properly, and often and sooner rather than later, you can have the distinction of ending a guys career. Unfortunately, neither The Stormers or their coaches have the faintest idea what I am talking about.

I spent a lot of the weekend doing the video analysis of the Stormers game. Some of the scenes are hilarious. I think that Pythagoras may have been right that the universe is made up of musical rhythm. There is a scene in the first 15 seconds of the Stormers Game that reverberates again in the match winning try in the last few minutes. Its impossible to cover it all here, in my last post I discussed Burger, Britz, Barry. Now lets look at some of the others.

1) The Opening scene: 10 seconds into the first half

Hurricanes kick the Ball to us and Werner Greef boots the ball back down field. He and Adri Badenhorst chase after it. Benjamin Moller and Skeate back up. Howell jumps up to take the high ball. Now you would think that at least one of them is going to paste this guy.

i) Adri gets there first, as he tries to stop he falls on the ground, I kid you not - untouched. ii) Werner rushes into one of them and completely loses balance. iii) Moller is completely flat footed and makes no effort to track the runner. iv) Benjamin completely overruns the play and conveniently is not there to make the hit. v) Ross Skeate comes in with bent back, feet close together and eventually makes a diving catch onto the runner's jersey, but the damage is done, they have come back at us 20 Metres.

I know its difficult to picture it without a video machine, but what you have to do is play it a few times at different rates 1/16th, 1/8th , 1/4 then you can see it clearly.

The amazing thing about it, is that not even one of them is in position, to make the hit. Its not about courage or attitude, they simply don't "Break down". Without this you have no platform from which to tackle. How can you even begin to make a tackle... I have to believe that "Breakdown" simply is not in the Stormers play book. In fact I am starting to believe that the Stormers don't even HAVE a Defensive play book.

2) The Try that should have sealed the game , 1 minute 20 into the first half

Less than a minute later from a Jerry Collins Lineout take, Jean de Villiers perfectly in position, but with no posture and standing flat footed as they run into his channel makes a dive at Yuipulotu, that would have made Os du Rand proud. I could go on and on. Jean De Villiers - does not make one single front-on tackle in the first half, playing from number 12! Every time he avoids the contact. The classic comes when Nonu will have no more of it and actually turns towards him and deliberately hits him. With nowhere to go, JdV goes down like a Mike Tyson fall guy. They simply have not been taught the basic positioning. Only sheer incompetence by the Hurricanes let them down at half time.

3) The Underture : 10 seconds into the second half

Benjamin - This guy NEVER, EVER engages. Just after half time SO'oialo gets between himself and the try line. This is classic. Benjamin dives out of the way to avoid him. I played this 15 times over because I couldn't believe it. Then I watched him again in a few other places. Normally we call this error over pursuit, but in his case it is more than that - he actually runs away from the play to avoid the tackle!

4) Moller and Andrews do not make one hit, NOT ONE between them. They never even get into the position that they could possibly make one. If your props are not your heavy hitters, what are they doing on they field?

5) Luke Watson and Peter Grant take a bow. When all around you are losing their heads, they still came up with reasonable performances. I know Grant missed the last try and a few other tackles. but you can't get them all. Still need lots of work, but that is beyond the scope of this post. It goes on and on - needs too much space to write it all down.

So what are we to make of all of this? As talking to the Stormers coaching staff is about as much use as trying to chat up a Super Model, lets not waste any time telling them how to fix it, lets just show the other guys how to take advantage of it. OK now we all know it, here is how you beat the Stormers:

1) JdV simply cannot defend his channel. Avoid running at Grant - he can defend.

2) If you see Benjamin, run at him, he cannot EVER stop you. As long as you actually go for him and don't try to slip him and let him jump onto your back, its like an open Door. I am not kidding, telegraph a huge sidestep at him. He will take it, because he is so interested in pretending to make a noble effort that he is prepared to make a dramatic dive in the wrong direction, simply to avoid being there at crunch time - desperate!

In general, beating the Stormers backline means not running directly at Grant, he will stop you, Run away from him because he is bad on cover defense. Also when you see Grant stand out wide use the opportunity to run over Conradie, who is also incapable of stopping you (Would need another page to describe his problems) You must suck in Barry either with a dummy runner or a late offload. He can cover tackle. After that its daylight.

3) Beating their forwards. This involves taking Burger and Watson onto the floor. Badenhorst is a defensive passenger. As soon as you have that, Run inside at them. Skeate is fast but ineffectual in the close encounters. The rest of them are hopeless. Pick and drives, (preferably a running back handoff, but again another 2 pages) from Second phase. If Watson and Burger are sucked in, they are defenseless around the Shoulders of the Ruck. If you see Burger in the first phase Ruck, grab him and hold him, in fact if you are prop or a lock hold him whenever you can.