Rugby: Hurricanes up against transformed Stormers unit

The Stormers have the best defensive record in the Super 14. Photo / Getty Images

The Hurricanes flew into an unseasonal heatwave in Cape Town yesterday - and strange happenings on the rugby scene, too.

As temperatures of almost 40C greeted the Kiwis, odd events concerning the Stormers, whom they will meet at Newlands this Sunday (NZT), were also occurring.

A right royal battle was under way between the Stormers' management and the Cape media over the tricky issue of entertainment. For years, it has been assumed that rugby teams in the Cape will mirror the local environment; entertaining and easy on the eye in one of the southern hemisphere's most renowned playgrounds.

Suddenly this season, the status quo has changed. The Stormers, hitherto a side hell bent on attacking rugby with scarce interest in boring chores associated with defence, has the best defensive record in the Super 14 after the first four rounds, with just 38 points conceded in four matches, by a mile the best in the competition. The 33-0 dismantling of the Highlanders last week underlined the new philosophy.

Asked what pleased him most, a bonus point for four tries or the clean sheet, Springbok Schalk Burger, the new Stormers captain, said revealingly "Obviously the clean sheet is pretty special."

So the Hurricanes, desperate for a good result this week after their surprise 28-12 defeat to the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Sunday, will face a very different Stormers side to the one they might have anticipated.

Coach Alistair Coetzee laid the new philosophy very firmly on the line, with hardly a ringing endorsement from the Cape media. Coetzee, former assistant coach to Jake White with the pragmatic 2007 Springboks, explained "In this game it is always about getting the balance right. The Lions have shown that if you just go with an all-out attacking approach you will be entertaining, but you are going nowhere in the competition.

"You have never seen a team win the World Cup without being defensively strong. If you start by attacking first, you will never win competitions. So we have got the defence right and now we are trying to get the balance right on attack as well.

"We should not feel under pressure from anyone and think that we must entertain people. We are in the competition to win it, that's No 1, and we are going to stick to our systems. The players are comfortable with those systems."

That brought an audible sound of mumbling by some of the media's finest, used to flowing movements and brilliant tries (albeit usually ending in defeats) from over ambitious Stormers and Western Province teams down the years. Wasn't the Springbok centre Jacque Fourie, expensively acquired in the close season together with wing Bryan Habana, being wasted as an attacking force, someone asked?

Coetzee shrugged. "I don't accept that at all" he said.

Burger emphasised his commitment to the strategy, saying "Our first philosophy is to win the game. Put the game away then think about bonus points. You don't enter a game thinking 'we are going to go for a bonus point here'. You start by thinking, let's win this game."

And what of the Hurricanes this Sunday? Well, ruminated Coetzee, hopefully the "monkey" of that bonus point was now off their backs. In other words, this match isn't likely to need a pocket calculator to sort out the scores and scorers.

"I won't change a lot for next weekend" said Coetzee. "The team are really firing with what they know best ... great defence, a great kicking game to get territory and set pieces and make sure we are clinical at the breakdown.

"The Hurricanes are loaded with All Blacks; they are a top quality side. They have been semifinalists and finalists in this competition and if we think it was physical against the Highlanders, we can expect that department to be even a level higher next Saturday.

"The Hurricanes are a side that plays as a strong group of players, a team. If you are playing in this competition and you are not a team, then it's going to be a long competition for you. But that's something the Stormers this year pride themselves on, their teamwork, and that is why we can defend like we have done.

"The Hurricanes are likewise, so it's a big challenge for us but also an exciting one."

Peter Bills is a rugby writer for the Independent in London