DHL Western Province Vodacom Cup star Devon Williams will make his first start for the DHL Stormers when the team travels to Bloemfontein to take on the Cheetahs in Super Rugby action on Saturday (kick-off 17:05 SA Time).
Stormers Media Release
Williams made his debut off the bench in last weekend’s 18-3 win over the Lions, but he will start in the No.11 jersey this week in the absence of Sailosi Tagicakibau who has not shaken off a sternum injury.
The 22-year-old Williams, a product of Paarl Boys’ High, was part of the cup-winning DHL Western Province Under-21 team last year, whilst he is also the top try-scorer in the 2014 Vodacom Cup with nine tries in just six games.
Williams and fullback Jaco Taute are the new faces in the starting line-up, with Peter Grant moving back into the No.10 shirt in the absence of Demetri Catrakilis (broken nose), but prop Oliver Kebble, flank Schalk Burger, flyhalf Kurt Coleman and wing Kobus van Wyk have all been named on the bench this week.
Kebble (knee), Burger (quad) and Van Wyk (abductor muscle) are all back to full fitness this week, but hooker Scarra Ntubeni (calf muscle) and winger Cheslin Kolbe (knee) are still another week away at this stage.
Looking ahead to Saturday, DHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee told www.iamastormer.com: “We’re expecting a physical battle against a Cheetahs team that is always tough to play against in Bloemfontein.
“The Cheetahs are just behind us on the log, with one win and a draw, so both teams will be desperate to come away with a victory in our second all-South African derby in the space of just a week.”
DHL Stormers team: 15 Jaco Taute, 14 Damian de Allende, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (Captain), 11 Devon Williams (On starting debut), 10 Peter Grant, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Michael Rhodes, 4 Ruan Botha, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16 Stephan Coetzee, 17 Oliver Kebble, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Jurie van Vuuren, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Kurt Coleman, 23 Kobus van Wyk.
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Devon Williams is very much in the Cheslin Kolbe mould… very fast, good footwork and he has a good boot. Kolbe is the better tackler and has a bit more of the “x factor” though.
I have really no idea why Fourie is still in the team as a hooker.. cannot throw, cannot scrum, ill-discipline etc…. only AC knows….
I would have started with Coleman at 10 and played Robert du Preez off the bench… and send the “never been” Grant off to an early holiday in Japan… have also no idea what Jurie van Vuuren is doing in the team.
It will probably be a 50/50 game depending on whether Goosen and de Jager is fit in which case the Cheetahs will be marginally favourites.
Strange formatting on this post. Gremlins in the system 🙂
@ robzim:
Apart from that one brainfart, I thought wild thing had a very good game, I guess he was helped by the Lions hooker having a worse game than Fourie has ever had, Coetzee and the Lions lineout were simply shocking.
@ robzim:
Agreed on all counts.
Coleman is no superstar but he has a much better all-round game than Grant.
@Macrobull 3
Wildthing’s best contribution was the 10 minutes in the bin, we managed 2 tries during that period.
Any other ref would have also given him a second yellow for repeated infringements, but Berry showed his bias towards the Lions by NOT sending Deon off with a red, he knew the Lions would be in further trouble if he wasn’t on the field.
2 @ Stormersboy:
YOU put the strange formatting in, boeta… and as usual I had to come fix it!
grootblousmile wrote:
Ja boet, now if only you can so easily fix your Camo Melk koeie
Deon is still one of a handful of players I would select first in my team, but only at 6, not 2. He plays a different game there. Turns over more balls than Bismark or Steggman and gives away about the same amount of penalties.
@ grootblousmile:
As usual?
pfffft.
I skyped you to ask your advice but as usual you weren’t available 😉
Jokes aside, the line outs do look better since Gert got involved, surely he must have some influence there?
Agree that he is a 6, and I do believe he would have only played 6 is both Scarra and Tiaan didn’t get injured again.
Both those two are serial sick note offenders, Stormers and WP must seriously look at getting a better hooker who can go the distance.
@10
@ nortierd:
Agree with you and Stormersboy that Deon is a very good number 6 and also that the Stormers must invest in a proper hooker. Tiaan was the real deal but, as you said, he has become a walking sicknote while Scarra is too small to really make it at the top level.
I think the main reason the lineouts looked better on Saturday was because Deon hardly ever tried to throw the ball to the middle and never to the back. Such tactics are not sustainable on the longer term and will fail against a better team than the Lions.
@ robzim:
Good 6 but stays a vuilgat, like his shoulder charge into a players spine when the other player was not watching 😉
Hopefully this Williams kid is the real deal, Coetzee must learn to back the youngsters more and more
Sharks_forever wrote:
Typical hooker mentality..
Uli, Fitzpatrick,Keith Wood, Bismark, Dalton, Lucas van Biljon, Deon….. all vuilgatte
Adriaan “Teddy Bear” Strauss is the exception 🙂
robzim wrote:
Something happens when you give a player the No 2 to wear on his back. I was just as bad as everyone else and I am a really mild mannered person in real life. Just like Bakkies 😀
nortierd wrote:
Come on Nortie, your getting insensitive now :/
robzim wrote:
just as long as you don’t go to third base with Teddy Bear.
MacroBull wrote:
We are Brokies, what did you expect?
We are sensitive kindred souls, and for some unknown reason one weekend a month the loss on a Saturday affects us harder than the losses on the other 3 Saturdays. We tend to ignore the alcohol and just sit and eat chocolates and kak our wives out.
So the Old Firm of AC & Wakefield unearth yet another b. diamond?
😉
A midget in all likelihood; 70kg 1.70m frame or there about?
Most important factor affecting the ‘Investors’ decision would be Craig Joubert’s appointment; the man to handle the swindle, with no relegation this season the Cheetahs will have to take the pain, they are used to it though
🙂
@Hondo
Kak story
Did you not dee the forward pass try he awarded to the Cheetahs against the Chiefs?
He is definitely not pro Stormers
@ nortierd:
@ 20
Sure Norttried
The argument is that he is a SARU employee and as such will follow his instructions to the letter!
😉
When a NZ or Oz referees are cheating they do it for the VERY same reason, the dud Hoffman last week swindled the Warathas for a victory against the Bulls, a week earlier the same referee was fairly neutral in his handling the Bulls – Highlanders game?!
Time to take off the blinkers, the Stormers have 93% of their SR wins since 2011 season under S. African referees, go dig the stats and tell me I am wrong?
🙂
Does anybody have any published physical description of that new ‘diamond’ Williams that AC unearthed?
Height?
Weight??
22 @ Hondo:
Hello Hondo, had a quick look for you and found Devon Williams – height 1.74m, weight 73kg that was according to ‘wiki’. Went to Paarl Boys and turned 22 not long ago. It sure looks like he knows his way to the tryline so quite an exciting prospect, hopefully he will be able to take his try scoring form to the higher level of Super Rugby.
@ Hondo:
The magic of Google!
Devon Williams:
Physical Height: 1.74m | Weight: 73kg
Extrapolating from the bench mark Aplon’s physical of 2007 (I keep the match programme) equated against his SARU Publication, Devon’s probably in a similar category:
Weight: 73x(70/78) = 67kg
Height: (169/175)x174= 169cm
?
@Hondo 21
That 93% stat may be accurate, but it still doesn’t mean Craig is pro Stormers when they face ANOTHER SA side.
He helped them against the Chiefs last year with that dying seconds penalty, but when it’s local derbies he doesn’t seem to favor them in any way
@ nortierd:
Nortried,
They are accurate, the Bulls btw stand tall at 89.5%!
Joubert is ‘His Masters’ Voice’ , he complies with whatever SARU – via Watson – instructed him to do
When they have no outcome’s interest like in the 6 Nations or the EYOTs, then he swindles games for the highest bidder, usually for England (check the Poms record under Joubert,,,,)
Or the RWC Final in case you’ve missed it?
😉
@Hondo
Be that as it may, I have never, as a Stormer supporter, felt that he has favored them in a local derby, quite the opposite.
The term “SA referees” imply various different refs.
Craig is, in my opinion, not pro Stormers.
Regarding the Permanent Peyper appointment at the Shark Tank, it might not imply that the Sharks are favored ( although I have my opinion on this ) but it does favor them hugely inasmuch as they get used to the ref and his way of officiating. The visiting teams only get one shot during the 80 minutes to try and get to work him out, while the Sharks will have had him 4 times this weekend.
This is, IMO, a subtle way of assisting them whether they admit it or see it like that.
teams like the bulls and stormers also plays better at home
Heck I’m frustrated and disappointed with Allister Coetzee.
A couple of weeks ago… Allister was crying in his rooibos about the inexperience in the Stormers team. Now he starts Devon Williams over Kobus van Wyk… who, second to Damien De Allende, has been one of our most consistent players. He is big, good in the air, defends very well, and really is good on attack… when his teammates pass him the ball… and don’t leave him in space pulling his hair out in frustration as they go for the glory and die with the ball.
If he is fully fit, according to the reports, why has he not been selected in the starting lineup? Allister Coetzee has kicked him in the teeth by benching him. Sheesh it makes me mad.
And just to say I have nothing against Devon Williams… quite the opposite… he is an excellent player and can get through the tiniest gap quicker than a squirt of Q20. But he should have come off the bench IMO. He is small like Cheslin… but not as good as Cheslin IMO… but going forward it will be foolhardy to start both Cheslin and Devon. The only reason why I was happy to see Cheslin and Gio start is because of the vast experience and cool head of Gio guiding Cheslin. Having two small rookies starting in future is going to be very very risky… even though they are both very gifted players… and I would have them both in my squad,… but Devon would come off the bench.
Once again… this smacks of a desperation selection… and Allister Coetzee thinks that because Devon scores fours tries in a game for the Vodacom Cup team… he will replicate that form for the Stormers and save AC’s bacon. What he doesn’t comprehend is that Devon’s form has just as much to do with the John Dobson’s coaching, structures and game plan as it has to do with Devon’s raw talent. So if Devon doesn’t score four tries in a game… he will be considered not up to Super Rugby level. It is unfair and desperate for AC to put that sort of pressure on a debutante and think one player will suddenly make the Stormers get winning bonus points.
Of course I will support Devon whole-heartedly… and hope he does score lots of tries… because I am a WP supporter… and because he is a WP player…
But… once again… Allister Coetzee is stuffing around a very good young player in Kobus van Wyk and treating him extremely dismissively IMO… What’s the bet we hear soon that the Sharks or Bulls have signed Kobus and Allister Coetzee will be crying into his post-match rooibos about having no big wings and having to contract other players with unpronounceable names to counteract the massive Kiwi and Ossie wings…?
I get so damn frustrated with Coetzee. He is so inconsistent and contradictory in his recent utterances… All the players and fans want is consistency and a coach who is as good as his word. He really needs to be fired and the sooner the f#$%@ing better IMO before he damages the team further and drives even more bright young stars away…
Okay…
Rant over…
29 @ UFO
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