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Stormers still have bye snag

Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer

Cape Town – The Stormers, who remain South African conference pace-setters in Super Rugby, face the possibility of a particularly arduous second half of the regular-season programme ... and beyond, if they manage that.

The “league” phase of the tournament reaches its midway mark for the majority of teams over the weekend ahead.

Last year’s losing Super 14 finalists, wishing to go one step better in 2011 but having slipped to third on the overall table after their first defeat of the campaign to the Reds at Newlands, arguably face a greater test of their endurance than the Crusaders and Reds, who have jumped ahead of them and lead the New Zealand and Australian conferences respectively.

Much of this can be put down to the not unimportant allocation of byes this year, the first marking a greatly expanded format in the southern hemisphere’s premier competition outside of Tests.

The Stormers, remember, had the weird inconvenience of having their first bye – widely considered to be a key freshening device each time during the gruelling slog – on the opening weekend.

So their second, which comes the welcome week after they tackle the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday, will to all intents and purposes feel more like their first.

The disadvantage of that, however, is that their allocation of inactive weekends is then exhausted, whereas each of the present New Zealand and Australian conference leaders can still look forward to reinvigorating byes rather further down the line.

The Crusaders, for instance, have a timely remaining bye two matches ahead of completion of their fixtures, whilst the Reds have their second one more or less halfway through their remaining obligations.

And if the Stormers, who could yet be hauled in domestically by the Sharks (and possibly even the presently stuttering champions the Bulls) do manage to stay at the top of the local pack, they would also have a hazardous extra fixture during the three-week “finals” phase if they remain lowest-ranked conference winner – ie, the position they are currently in.

Whereas the best two conference winners overall would have a rest week ahead of guaranteed respective home semi-finals, the worst-placed conference winner must face a sudden-death affair instead against one of the other three teams (the worst-placed of them) also making the six-team finals series cut.

So a “top two” finish overall in regular season is a particularly coveted objective.

Of course there are many rivers to cross yet, both in conference terms and the overall scrap, but the home defeat to the Reds is already looking more costly to the Stormers than might have even been imagined, especially as they are not exactly shining in the bonus points department – they sport only one -- and could not even bank a losing point last Saturday.

They will also be the last of the three realistic South African challengers this year to embark on a four-match overseas tour; the Sharks have already completed their overseas assignments and the Bulls are halfway through them.

Like the Crusaders, the Stormers only have three remaining regular-season home games: the New Zealand outfit officially have four more but agreed a long time ago to play their last fixture against the Hurricanes in their Wellington stronghold after the upheaval caused by the Christchurch earthquake tragedy.

If the status quo remains (Schalk Burger’s team eventually win the SA conference, but in third place overall), they face the unenviable prospect of 11 consecutive weeks of rugby if they make it all the way to the final: eight further league games after the Lions encounter, the sudden-death fixture, a semi-final and then the final.

Remaining fixtures for present conference leaders:

CRUSADERS, NZ (30 points on overall log):
Chiefs (a), Highlanders (h), Force (a), Stormers (a), Cheetahs (a), Chiefs (h), Reds (a), 2nd bye weekend, Blues (h), Hurricanes (h)

REDS, AUS (30 points on overall log):
Bulls (h), Waratahs (h), Hurricanes (a), Rebels (a), Blues (h), 2nd bye weekend, Crusaders (h), Brumbies (h), Force (a), Chiefs (a)

STORMERS, SA (29 points on overall log):
Lions (a), 2nd bye weekend, Sharks (h), Crusaders (h), Chiefs (a), Blues (a), Brumbies (a), Rebels (a), Bulls (h), Cheetahs (a)
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