WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — South Africa's Stormers will field an unchanged team against the second-place Queensland Reds on Saturday as they attempt to extend their record six-match unbeaten start in the Super 15.
Stormers coach Alister Coetzee has stressed the importance of consistency as the Cape Town-based team takes on the the Australian side in the top-of-the-table contest.
The Stormers have the best defensive record in the Super 15 this season, conceding only 72 points in six games, and Queensland coach Ewen McKenzie acknowledges that unlocking that defense may be the key.
In other seventh-round matches, seven-time champions the Canterbury Crusaders will play the Pretoria-based Bulls, champions of the past two years, at the small provincial New Zealand venue of Timaru.
A showdown between two of the competition's marquee sides would usually fill a major stadium, but the Crusaders have been forced from their 40,000-seat home in Christchurch after last month's earthquake. After playing the Sharks at London's Twickenham stadium on March 27, the Crusaders will play their five remaining home matches at small New Zealand venues.
The Otago Highlanders will play the Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs at Dunedin, the ACT Brumbies will play the Wellington Hurricanes in Canberra, the Western Force meet the New South Wales Waratahs in Perth and the Sharks will host compatriots the Lions in Durban.
The face-off between the championships' two top teams holds the most interest in the eighth of 15 regular-season rounds. Queensland beat the Stormers 16-13 when the teams met last year in Brisbane, and Coetzee said his much-improved team — beaten finalists last year — was eager to avenge that defeat.
The Stormers sat out the first round of the season with a bye but have since beaten the Lions, Cheetahs, Highlanders, Bulls, Force and Sharks. Coetzee said consistent selections had played an important part of the team's success.
"At the start of the season I thought starting out with a bye in the opening week might be a problem for us, but here we sit two weeks away from another bye," said Coetzee.
"That means that with the players coming into form now we can let them hit their straps for another two weeks, and then we can take the rest and reassess from there how we will approach the rest of the tournament.
"It wouldn't be a good idea to rotate (players) now just for the sake of it. What we are doing now is working and we would like to stick with what is working."
Captain Schalk Burger said it would be important for the Stormers maintain their current form, even in the face of a challenge as strong as that of the Reds.
"It's a long season and there is no room for complacency," he said. "We know that in this competition if you lose one game you can quickly find yourselves three matches down.
"Every time we win we feel that it raises the pressure for us to maintain that focus and that level of performance the following week."
Queensland coach Ewen McKenzie closely studied the Stormers last season, and particularly their defensive patterns, to learn the secrets of their continued success. The Stormers set a tournament record in 2010 when they conceded only 17 tries in 15 matches.
"We did more homework on them than on any other side," Ewen McKenzie told The Australian newspaper.
"We wanted to know how we could improve our own defense, but in the process we acquired a fair bit of knowledge about how to attack against it. We understand it pretty well but defense is about attitude, so you just can't go and imitate it. They've got good systems, but they've also got good people implementing it."
The clash between the Crusaders and Bulls also offers one of the season's highlights, and a compelling contest of styles.
The Crusaders are the top attacking team in the competition this season with 195 points from six games — an average of 32.5 points per game — but alloy that strength to the second-best defensive record in the tournament. Canterbury has conceded only 93 points at 15.5 points per game and hold joint second place with Queensland, three points behind the Stormers.
The Bulls have begun to regain form after losses to the Highlanders and Stormers and enter the match on the back of last week's win over the Hurricanes with four wins from six games.
Bulls fullback Zane Kirchner has been passed fit to play after recovering from a knee strain and Danie Rossouw returns to the starting lineup after missing the match against the Hurricanes.
"They certainly don 't come much harder than this one, " coach Frans Ludeke said. "The Crusaders are playing great rugby, but we have shown in the past that we never shy away from huge challenges. More importantly for us will be our own desire to improve every week. Last weekend showed massive improvement, but we will need another massive step-up to beat the Crusaders."
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