DHL Stormers

StormersCoach Allister Coetzee has announced a much-changed line-up for the DHL Stormers’ final warm-up game ahead of the 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby season.

The DHL Stormers will take on the Boland Cavaliers in Wellington on Saturday afternoon and Coetzee has named a new-look side in a bid to give his entire group of players a run before the start of the season proper.

Experienced hooker Tiaan Liebenberg will lead the Stormers into battle this weekend, with flyhalf Gary van Aswegen serving as his vice-captain.

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StormersRynhardt ElstadtThe last thing the DHL Stormers need ahead of the new Vodacom Super Rugby season is more injuries at lock, so even though coach Allister Coetzee is confident there is nothing to worry about, the squad will nonetheless be waiting with bated breath for results of a scan conducted at the weekend on Rynhardt Elstadt’s ribs.

The powerfully built forward came off at halftime of the 40 / 7 win over the Southern Kings in a warm-up match in Port Elizabeth with sore ribs. According to Coetzee, he was walking comfortably afterwards, but nonetheless he underwent a scan on the affected area, the results of which will be made available on Monday.

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StormersThe DHL Stormers have announced that Juan de Jongh has injured his knee and will miss 6 weeks of rugby.

In addition, Schalk Burger makes double news, being named the Captain of the side who will take on the Southern Kings on the weekend and with the further news that he wants to stay put in the Cape, at least till after the next World Cup.

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Southern KingsA somewhat changed Southern Kings team will take to the field against the DHL Stormers under the leadership of Steven Sykes on Friday evening, says caretaker coach, Robbie Kempson.

Announcing the team at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Kempson said Sykes would take the role of captain this week, following an injury to Darron Nell’s elbow that has resulted in him being excluded from selection.

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BullsStormersVictor Matfield made his return to the playing field, but it was not enough to prevent the Stormers recording an impressive 26-19 win at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday.

The Super Rugby pre-season outing in Polokwane was a double blow for the Bulls, who will also be concerned about another knee injury suffered by star loose forward Arno Botha, the extent of which is knot known at this juncture, although it seemed  a serious injury.

It was a strong second half performance and a late try that secured the win for the Stormers, who outscored the Bulls by four tries to three.

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BullsStormersThe Bulls are expected to provide a stern pre-season test for the relatively young Stormers tight five in Polokwane on Saturday.

The versatile Rynhardt Elstadt is the oldest in the Stormers engine room at just 24, although he and loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff have three years of Super Rugby experience whilst Frans Malherbe and Scarra Ntubeni both toured with the Springboks at the end of last year.

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Jean de VilliersStormersSpringbok captain Jean de Villiers is expecting another long Super Rugby season with the Stormers without much rest or rotation.

The experienced centre has recently returned from a month’s break after a 2013 season which saw him play almost every possible fixture for the Springboks, Stormers and Western Province, and he expects more of the same this year.

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BullsThis weekend sees the only Vodacom Bulls warm-up fixture in preparation for Super Rugby in 2014. The Bulls play the DHL Stormers in Polokwane.

In an interesting twist, the Bulls will also use the curtain raiser game between the Vodacom Blue Bulls and Golden Lions as part of their Super Rugby preparations, with a strong side which closely resmbles their Currie Cup side, to face the 2nd string Golden Lions outfit. This Bulls side will include the likes of Piet van Zyl at scrumhalf, Handré Pollard at flyhalf and a number of Bulls players who will see enough Super Rugby time in 2014.

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StormersAfter winning the Currie Cup final and acquiring the services of World Cup winner Jake White as their director of rugby, most of the attention in the build-up to the 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby season has been hogged by the Sharks, but the Stormers claim they prefer it that way.

This time last year, on the basis that they were the reigning domestic champions and had also won the South African Super Rugby conference in both years of the new format, the talk was all about the Stormers. There was an air of expectation in the Cape, and even outside of the region there were rugby people installing the Stormers not only as conference favourites, but also a good bet to win the competition for the first time.

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Super RugbyIn December 2013 and January 2014 we looked at Squad Contenders in the SA Super Rugby participating franchises. This tiime we will focus on the SA Conference Coaches for Super Rugby 2014.

We’ll have a look at all the head coaches and briefly their assistant staff, for the various South African Super Rugby franchises.

We look at their history and discuss their coaching styles and speculate about what can be expected.

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StormersCheslin KolbeCheslin Kolbe’s Super Rugby debut has been pushed back after the rising star suffered a serious knee injury during a Stormers training session on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old suffered a torn lateral meniscus in what coach Allister Coetzee described as a “freak accident” and requires surgery that will sideline him for at least eight weeks.

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Gio AplonSpringbok and Stormers wing Gio Aplon’s preferred destination, if he leaves South African rugby, will be Japan, and not France, as earlier reports had indicated.

Western Province Rugby chief executive Rob Wagner has moved to dismiss reports that Aplon had signed a contract with French team Grenoble.

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Stormers

This is the 7th in the series of Stormers Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We do 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.

We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.

In this Article we look at the contenders for MIDFIELD in the DHL Stormers 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.

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Super RugbySuper Rugby teams will step up their preparations for the upcoming season and shake off some rust in pre-season friendlies in the coming weeks.

Preparing for the gruelling Super Rugby tournament, which gets underway on 15 February and culminates on 2 August, is not an exact science.

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DHL StormersDHL Stormers head coach Allister Coetzee has named a 38-man squad for next week’s pre-season camp in Hermanus.

The DHL Stormers will head to Hermanus for the fourth year in a row as they prepare for the 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby season which gets underway in just over a month.

Springboks Tiaan Liebenberg, Frans Malherbe, Pat Cilliers, Siya Kolisi, Schalk Burger, Duane Vermeulen, Jean de Villiers, Jaco Taute, Juan de Jongh and Gio Aplon are all part of the 38-man group, which also includes new signing Manuel Carizza (lock) and utility back Scott van Breda, who is on loan from the Kings.

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Stormers

This is the fifth in the series of Stormers Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We do 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.

We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.

In this Article we look at the contenders for SCRUMHALVES in the DHL Stormers 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.

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Stormers

This is the forth in the series of Stormers Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We do 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.

We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.

In this Article we look at the contenders for LOOSE FORWARDS in the DHL Stormers 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.

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StormersA big squad of players – including eight of the 2014 WP Rugby Institute intake – have been put through their paces in recent weeks under the watchful eyes of the senior coaching staff and, of course, Stephan du Toit (the DHL Stormers’ head of strength and conditioning).

Now, the players will take a deserved break – officially termed a “maintenance phase of conditioning” – before reconvening on Tuesday 7 January 2014.

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Super RugbyIn 2013 the whole Lions side did not take part in Super Rugby, however some of their frontline players were out on loan with other South African Super Rugby franchises. In addition a number of South African players were injured for most of, if not all, of Super Rugby in 2013, whereas some seasoned campaigners did not take part in the Currie Cup, due to injury.

Amongst the Stormers, we can look forward to seeing Schalk Burger, Peter Grant and Jaco Taute back in Super Rugby, whilst Demetri Catrakilis will be determined to make his switch from the Southern Kings to the Stormers, a memorable one.

Amongst the Sharks there will be a total rebirth in the coaching and administrative setup, with John Smit now the CEO of the Sharks, Jake White the Head Coach and Director Of Rugby and a totally changed coaching formula, having replaced John Plumtree. Then there is also the return to Super Rugby of Frans Steyn (who was in France in the 2013 Super Rugby season) and maybe Ryan Kankowski will be back as well. In addition there is the addition of some Southern Kings imports, like SP Marais and Justin Downey and if rumours could be believed, even the possible addition of Luke Watson.

At the Bulls we will see the return to the field of Pierre Spies, Arno Botha, Deon Stegmann, Francois Hougaard, Louis Fouché as well as a possibility that Victor Matfield and Derick Hougaard could make their return to Super Rugby. In addition Bandise Maku, Vleis Engelbrecht and David Bullbring were added with their migration from the Southern Kings.

The Cheetahs will have Johan Goosen back at pivot and the luxury of some astute buys from elsewhere in South Africa. They will have the services of Heinrich Brüssow back at openside and their whole squad will be richer for the experience they garnered in 2013.

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Stormersadidas ‘unlocked’ the DHL Stormers home and away kit for the 2014 season at a launch event held today (Thursday, December 5) at the adidas Performance store in the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town.

Three teams of adidas Storm Chasers – made up of a DHL Stormers player, media personality and a Super Fan (selected from the adidas 3Stripes loyalty programme) – raced around Cape Town looking for clues to help them complete challenges akin to The Amazing Race, in order to reveal the 2014 kits.

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