Foote happy with Stormers yardstick

Ikey Tigers in their flashy alternative stipes
Last year’s Super 14 finalists began their preparations for the all-new Super tournament by beating both FNB Maties and FNB UCT in sweltering conditions at Alan Zondagh’s lovely RPC fields on Saturday morning.

In the early fixture the Maties, went down 19-38 to the Stormers team captained by young Ikey Nic Groom.

In the second game, which featured a more experienced Stormers line-up, UCT battled gamely but were unable to breach the watertight Stormers defence, suffering a 3-52 reversal at the hands of the Newlands-based outfit.

The Stormers scored eight tries, with players like UCT’s Marcel Brache and Lionel Cronjé shining in open play and the Stormers Ikey forwards Siya Kolisi and Siyabonga Ntubeni doing the hard yards up front. UCT’s only points were scored by flyhalf Dimitri Catrakilis, who kicked a first-half penalty – whne UCT were able to keep things close at 3:7.

The Ikeys’ line-out impressed on the day, but the students – as they always tend to do! – turned heads with their unique pre-season jerseys -  by studrugby.co.za ; bringing a little Stade Français to the party with their blend of pink mixed with blue and white stripes.
 

New UCT coach Kevin Foote said afterwards: “It’s never nice to lose by such a margin, but it was just great being out there and able to get eighty minutes under the belt.

“The guys have been working hard on the training ground, and we certainly have a bit more to work on now, but that’s the beauty of games like this – it gives you a yardstick of sorts.”
 

Ikeys Tiger Bax, Nic Groom, Marcel Brache and Tim Whitehead turned out for the two Stormers teams on Saturday. New UCT players Nizaam Carr, Siya Kolisi, Quinn Roux, Eben Etzebeth and Siyabonga Ntubeni – who could feature, at some point, during the 2011 Varsity Cup – also turned out for the Stormers.
 

The teams:

STORMERS v MATIES:

Stormers: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Tiger Bax, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Burton Klaassens, 11 Bom Samaai, 10 Gary van Aswegen, 9 Nic Groom (captain), 8 Willem van der Wal, 7 Reuben Johannes, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Sidney Tobias, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Albe de Swardt, 17 Rohan Kitshoff, 18 Helmut Lehmann, 19 Louis Schreuder, 20 Elgar Watts, 21 Clearance Khumalo, 22 Michael van der Spuy.

Maties: 15 Jarryd Buys, 14 Deego Arends, 13 Ryan Nel, 12 Stephan van der Merwe, 11 Tythan Adams, 10 Jody Rose, 9 Donald Stevens, 8 Sam Mabombo, 7 Meyer Swanepoel, 6 Grant Hattingh, 5 Hugo Kloppers (captain), 4 Chris van Zyl, 3 Suan Havenga, 2 Gareth Light, 1 Kenny Langeveld.
 

STORMERS v UCT Ikey Tigers:

Stormers: 15 Marcel Brache, 14 Danie Poolman, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Paul Bosch (captain), 11 JJ Engelbrecht, 10 Lionel Cronjé, 9 Bolla Conradie, 8 Tertius Daniller, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Wimpie van der Waldt, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Buhle Mxunyelwa, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 JD Möller.
Replacements: 16 Albe de Swardt, 17 Rohan Kitshoff, 18 Helmut Lehmann, 19 Louis Schreuder, 20 Elgar Watts, 21 Clearance Khumalo, 22 Michael van der Spuy.

UCT: 15 Therlow Pietersen, 14 Pete Haw, 13 Adrian Kritzinger, 12 Sam Lane, 11 Paul Cohen, 10 Dimitri Catrakilis, 9 Ricky Schroeder, 8 Brad Bosman, 7 Nick Fenton-Wells (captain), 6 Don Armand, 5 Tom Holmes, 4 Levi Odendaal, 3 Shane Meier, 2 Matt Page, 1 Wes Chetty.