Vodacom Super 14
Liebenberg to face Hurricanes
2010-03-10 18:42
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Tiaan Liebenberg (Gallo Images)
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Cape Town - He may well be South Africa’s form hooker so it was not surprising that the Vodacom Stormers recalled Tiaan Liebenberg to the starting team on Wednesday for Saturday’s Super 14 showdown with the Hurricanes at Newlands.
But had Liebenberg been less experienced and a lesser player, it would surely have been a much closer run thing following replacement Deon Fourie’s outstanding performance against the Highlanders when Liebenberg was off with flu last weekend.
Apart from scoring the first Stormers try, Fourie was all over the field, repeatedly popping up as the man who took the passes that put the Stormers into gaps, and on a few occasions giving the impression he could quite happily carry half the Highlanders pack on his back.
Fourie makes way for Liebenberg in the only change to the side that won 33-0 against the Highlanders. Sireli Naqelevuki, who got his chance in the starting team ahead of Gio Aplon, who was also laid low with flu, gets to stay in the team by virtue of the many metres he gained for the Stormers across the gainline against the Highlanders.
“It is always difficult to leave out a player who is in form, and Gio was in form before he was laid out with flu last week, but Sireli played well against the Highlanders, and the statistics showed that he gained several metres for us during the game,” said coach Allister Coetzee.
“With Tiaan coming back for Deon, we know Deon did well against the Highlanders, and we could not have asked for more than what he gave. It is really good to have a player of his quality pushing for a place. But we all saw the form Tiaan was in before last week, and we know the massive influence he has on the drive as well as in our scrumming.”
There is also the small matter that the Hurricanes do include some experienced All Blacks in their pack, and one of them is hooker Andrew Hore. Liebenberg’s experience will be crucial in what the Stormers are expecting to be a highly physical battle.
“We know they will probably target our scrum, but we feel our scrum has developed to a point where we should be equal to the challenge,” said Coetzee.
In terms of the importance of the game, Stormers skipper Schalk Burger said that last week’s win over the Highlanders had taken a bit of the pressure off, but that his men were extremely wary of what the Hurricanes are capable of.
“The Cheetahs beat the Hurricanes by being very direct with their attacking and also good with their defence, but I hope the Hurricanes don’t take out their frustrations from that game out on us as they are a team that can be hot and cold. When they are hot, they are very hot as they have several game-breakers,” said Burger.
Stormers team:
Joe Pietersen, Sireli Naqelevuki, Jaque Fourie, Juan de Jongh, Bryan Habana, Peter Grant, Dewaldt Duvenage, Duane Vermeulen, Francois Louw, Schalk Burger (captain), Andries Bekker, Anton van Zyl, Brok Harris, Tiaan Liebenberg, Wicus Blaauw.
Substitutes: Deon Fourie, JC Kritzinger, De Kock Steenkamp, Pieter Louw, Ricky Januarie, Lionel Cronje, Gio Aplon.