{"id":32411,"date":"2022-06-18T15:46:26","date_gmt":"2022-06-18T15:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/jake-concerned-over-scrum-fiasco-on-urc-final-pitch-stormers-could-suffer-most"},"modified":"2022-06-18T15:52:43","modified_gmt":"2022-06-18T15:52:43","slug":"jake-concerned-over-scrum-fiasco-on-urc-final-pitch-stormers-could-suffer-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/jake-concerned-over-scrum-fiasco-on-urc-final-pitch-stormers-could-suffer-most","title":{"rendered":"Jake concerned over scrum fiasco on URC final pitch: ‘Stormers could suffer most’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Bulls mentor Jake White has renewed fears over the state of the Cape Town Stadium’s pitch, warning that even the Stormers might see one of their greatest strengths nullified for Saturday evening’s United Rugby Championship (URC) final.<\/p>\n

The venue’s surface has been under the spotlight ever since it had to host the bulk of last year’s British & Irish Lions tour matches, including all three Tests, leading to a choppy grass that’s relatively easily dislodged.<\/p>\n

Much of this weekend’s build-up has focussed on the issue, particularly after substantial rain earlier this week has many parts of the city scrambling.<\/p>\n

“I just feel the turf at Cape Town Stadium isn’t conducive to scrumming,” said White.<\/p>\n

“The Stormers have obviously spoken a lot that they have great scrummers, with two World Cup-winning props [in Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe] at the forefront, and that’s perfectly fine, but is just don’t think the surface gives them the benefits or bonuses that they should get.<\/p>\n

“It’s a surface that breaks up very quickly and takes the contest of the scrum away.”<\/p>\n

‘Mind the gap’ – Bok legend’s simple advice for ref to tame URC final’s iffy surface<\/p>\n

That would indeed be a pity if it came to pass, as the battle of the front rows is an intriguing one, with the pedigree and class of Kitshoff and Malherbe contrasting nicely with the burgeoning talents of Gerhard Steenekamp and Mornay Smith.<\/p>\n

White and his coaching staff’s meticulousness has even unearthed data that will provide even less comfort to their reservations.<\/p>\n

In the last 80 scrums at the stadium, 23 have been resets – almost 30% of all those set-pieces.<\/p>\n

“I’d hate to lose the match because of a collapsed scrum and the perception is that those two Springbok props couldn’t have done anything wrong,” said the Bulls’ director of rugby.<\/p>\n

“I’ve seen them slip numerous times. Those resets have featured numerous different teams. You can’t say one team is scrumming illegally while the other isn’t. Those numbers suggest that something is seriously wrong and I just hope two Springbok props, who are seriously good rugby players, don’t get the rub of the green when a scrum collapses.”<\/p>\n

That comment is probably also partly down to his team’s proficiency at scrum-time this season.<\/p>\n

For the best part of the campaign, the Bulls struggled to truly assert themselves through a combination of factors before things started improving markedly over the past few weeks.<\/p>\n

“We’ve actually scrummed really well this season. According to the stats, we’ve had one of the highest number of scrum penalties awarded in our favour,” said White.<\/p>\n

“All I’m saying is that the stadium’s surface doesn’t allow the Stormers to effectively use of their greatest strengths.”<\/p>\n

Kick-off is at 19:30.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Bulls mentor Jake White has renewed fears over the state of the Cape Town Stadium’s pitch, warning that even the Stormers might see one of their greatest strengths nullified for Saturday evening’s United Rugby Championship (URC) final. The venue’s surface has been under the spotlight ever since it had to host the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":32410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17],"tags":[274,315,505,760,587,275,798,604,603],"class_list":["post-32411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-bulls","tag-jake-white","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa-2","tag-stormers","tag-united-rugby-championship","tag-urc"],"yoast_head":"\nJake concerned over scrum fiasco on URC final pitch: 'Stormers could suffer most' - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bulls mentor Jake White has renewed fears over the state of the Cape Town Stadium's pitch, warning that even the Stormer ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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