Bulls vs Stormers

Few would doubt that the two best teams in the league have reached this year’s final. All that remains to be settled now is who really is the best, after their preliminary round meeting two weeks ago was reduced to a farce by the Bulls’ decision to roll out a B-team at Newlands.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke would argue that the ploy to rest his front-liners was justified, after the main mob tipped over the Crusaders by 15 last weekend; but the jury will only really return its verdict on that issue following Saturday’s contest. It might have been a second-string line-up but, by beating the Bulls in the final round of qualifying; the Stormers terminated a nine-game winning sequence that had dated back two years, for the Bulls against fellow South African sides.

That knowledge will give the Stormers confidence, as will the manner in which they saw off the NSW Waratahs in last weekend’s semi-final. While it is true that the one out nature of the visitor’s attack barely stretched the best defence in the league; the emphatic nature of the Stormers’ success was significant.

They might only be featuring in their third finals series in 15 years of Super Rugby, but the Stormers showed no sign of the finals wobbles that might have been expected given their novice pedigree in this field. Playing at Soweto, as opposed to in Pretoria, is hardly a negative either. While the Bulls clearly had the crowd in its corner last weekend against New Zealand opposition, a significant and vociferous Stormers element should be seen among Saturday night’s gathering, reducing the affect of the intimidating fervour the Bulls often create at a packed Loftus Versfeld.

The visitors will welcome any help from the sidelines they can get as their recent record against the Bulls is dire. After totally dominating the men from Loftus between 1998 and 2004; the Stormers were humiliated 75-14 at Pretoria in 2005.

That set up a chain of whippings, with the Bulls subsequently winning 43-10 at Newlands in the opening Super 14, and 49-12 back at Loftus a year later. The Bulls scored 21 tries through those matches before being held to one in each of the 2008 and 2009 editions, where the games were real dog fights won by the Bulls 16-9 (2008) and 14-10 (2009) respectively.

The Stormers scored four tries to one in their 29-point drubbing of the Bulls Bs two weeks ago, but backed off in the second spell after romping to a 28-3 halftime lead. Two of the Stormers’ four tries were supplied by Bryan Habana, who was scoring try #5 and #6 of his career in Cape Town, after having relocated from Pretoria at the end of last year. The ex-Loftus favourite, who scored 37 tries in 61 appearances as a Bull, will be playing in front of his former home crowd for the first time. It will be interesting to see what sort of reaction he draws.

The Stormers head to Johannesburg on the back of their best ever home run in Super Rugby. Newlands provided the back drop for seven wins from eight home games for the Stormers, comfortably eclipsing their previous best home return, of five from seven during their run to a home semi-final eleven years ago.

The Stormers began this year’s competition in Johannesburg, beating the Lions 26-13 at Coca-Cola Park. They return to the city having won 10 of 14, with three of the four losses being sustained against Australian teams – the Brumbies, Western Force and Queensland Reds.

The Stormers boast the meanest defence in the league, having let in just 17 tries from 14 games. Last weekend was the third time this year that they have kept their try-line in tact, with two of those occurring against the NSW Waratahs. At the other end of the scale, the Bulls advance to the decider having scored more tries than anyone else, with last week’s three tries against the Crusaders taking their season tally to 50.

Pacy young winger Gerhard van den Heever has eight of those, and he will be looking to make things up to his mates, having missed the last two weeks due to suspension for a dangerous tackle in the round robin match against the Crusaders. Morné Steyn will also be out to add to his season tally, after last weekend breaking Dan Carter’s record for points in a single campaign.

Steyn accumulated 21 points to boot the Crusaders out of last year’s semi-final, and ran up 24 last weekend to advance his tally for the season to 243. Last Saturday’s work included six penalty goals, including a boomer from his own side of halfway, but he may not get so many opportunities against the Stormers.

Not only have they given up the fewest tries, the Stormers are also the most disciplined side in the competition in terms of the number of penalties they have given up, while they have been issued with just one yellow card all season.

By comparison, the Bulls have had players dispatched to the sin bin on five separate occasions. If the Stormers lead at halftime, the chances are they will go all the way, as they have won 10 of the 11 matches this year in which they have led at the mid-point.

The Bulls have won six from six after leading at the break, but have also rallied to over-turn a halftime deficit five times, which is a true indicator as to the levels of belief and composure under pressure that exists within the side. Nor will a high scoring game necessarily disadvantage the Bulls. The defending champions have let in 30 points on seven occasions this season, but have won five of those games. The Bulls have topped 50 points four times this year which is a new record for Super Rugby.