Stormers bye a blessing?

First off, let’s be clear on one thing: The bye is not something the Stormers want. It was initially the Sharks who were going to have a bye as per the first provisional draft of the 2011 competition itinerary, but they complained and the schedule was reworked. The next time a schedule was published it was the finalised version, and there was no avenue for complaint for the Stormers.

It is easy to understand why the Stormers don’t want to start with a bye. It effectively means that once the competition starts, they have over four and a half months of competition to look forward to, and just one bye, on Easter weekend, in which to take a breather. The other teams can pace themselves better by breaking their season into three different segments instead of two.

But now that the season is upon them, the Stormers might consider it a bit fortuitous that they only start on February 26 whereas the other South African teams begin their campaigns a week earlier than them.

For a start, there is the Peter Grant issue. The first choice flyhalf is still in Japan, and is set to stay a while longer after his team, the Kobe Steelers, won their knock-out match at the weekend. The Stormers management were secretly hoping that the Steelers would bow out as they need Grant back in the system as soon as possible.

As it stands, it is now touch and go whether Grant will be back in time for the first game against the Lions at Newlands. And even if he is, how sharp and Super Rugby ready can they expect them to be? Western Province’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus made a good point last season when he said that the sojourn in Japan would be good for Grant in that it will give him a break from the physicality of South African rugby.

The flip side of that though is surely that Grant will need a feeling in period to get himself used to the hardness of rugby on this side of the world again. As it stands, he does not have that, and it is not unreasonable to anticipate that he will struggle through the opening weeks, as other players have when returning from Japan.

In terms of assessing their flyhalf depth, the recent Neo Africa Tri-Series was ideal for the Stormers. But while Gary van Aswegen went well against the Lions in the opening match, he tried too hard against the Sharks and made a lot of mistakes. He is a player with ability and has a bright future, but is he ready to slot in as first choice should Grant lose form or be injured?

Elgar Watts did well as Van Aswegen’s replacement in both matches, but his two cameo appearances were both late in the piece. It is a different proposition to start a game.

Then there are the injury concerns that need to be sorted out over the two and a half weeks that remain until the Stormers kick off their season. As it turns out, there are a number of players who have been injured and whose return to full fitness coincides nicely with the February 26 kick-off. Among those are Springboks in Jaque Fourie and Francois Louw. Other players who may miss the start but should be back soon after include experienced lock Anton van Zyl and young prop JC Kritzinger.

The return of Fourie should be the most eagerly awaited event for the Stormers because of what he brings them both on attack and defence. For while the Stormers won both their Neo Africa games and could be said to have won the tournament for the second year in a row, they look well short of where they were at the corresponding stage of 2010, and that has to be a concern to the Stormers brains-trust.

Whereas in 2010 the Stormers were clinical and efficient in their matches against the Western Force and the Sharks, this time they made far too many errors, they looked unco-ordinated on attack and coach Allister Coetzee was right to throw a tizzy fit after the Sharks game at his team’s poor discipline.

They have a record for the season which reads played two and won two but they were outplayed by the Sharks for most of the final game and will do well to heed the wake-up call. Fortunately they have an extra week to work on their deficiencies and have one more warm-up game to come against Boland at Newlands this coming Saturday.