Stormers captain Jean de Villiers said players should take responsibility for doing what is expected of them against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
The Stormers skiper was asked to reflect on the composition of the backline which failed to deliver in the opening Super Rugby match in Pretoria last week.
"The players, young and old, are selected because they are good enough to be included in the team," said De Villiers.
"It's simply a question of players taking responsibility for playing the role that has been entrusted to them."
The Capetonians had held out high hopes of Springbok centre Juan de Jongh reinforcing their three-quarter line in Durban.
However, De Jongh has not fully recovered from a hamstring injury.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee said it did not make sense to risk De Jongh who is clearly not yet fully fit.
"After a 40-minute session Juan was not feeling comfortable yet," Coetzee told the media in Bellville on Wednesday.
"We need to make sure that he's 100 percent fit because there's no point in rushing him back (into action)."
The unavailability of the injured Jaco Taute has opened the way for the in-form Joe Pietersen to claim the number 15 jumper.
The Stormers have persisted with the out-of-form Elton Jantjies at fly-half while Peter Grant landed a spot on the bench.
"We have still to decide who will do the place-kicking against the Sharks but Jantjies was was kicking very well (at training)," Coetzee said.
"Peter is 100 percent after a season in Japan but the big thing is for him to settle in to the way we will be doing things this week."
In the pack, tightheads Pat Cilliers and Frans Malherbe swap places even though the Sharks have a highly experienced front row.
Coetzee explained that he was counting on the experienced Cilliers to come off the bench later in the match to perform a specific role.
"We've opted to start with Frans this time and he has stood up to some really good props in the past," said Coetzee.
"We'd rather have Pat coming on when we'll really need him in the second half."
Comments
rugbyphile says...
Agree with JayStarr--JdeV by all accounts is nice guy but that masks the fact that his best rugby was around 5 years ago=or more-- and he now varies between mediocre and poor. When the heat is on he goes missing-remember thecrucial forward passes at RWC. He is a poor leader and the WP team's display under Deon Fourie was no coincidence. Knowing SA, JdeV will be a shoo-in to captain the Boks again.
Anyone who leaves Joe Pietersen out and picks Taute is ignoring proven performance for hype--similarly Grant is a proven match-winner and Jantjes could count the number of winning games he has played more than 10 minutes in on his kindergarten abacus.The curse of pro rugby--you pay big bucks to recruit people so feel you have to pick them to justify the expense--
Posted 00:48 01st March 2013
JayStarr says...
He should follow his own advice...
I've been a big supporter of JdV for his entire career, but I'm getting tired of his talking now - it's time he starts doing his talking on the field again. Because he hasn't done that for quite a while now. And I'm starting to question whether he still deserves a starting spot, nevermind the captaincy...
Deon Fourie didn't do much talking when he captained WP during the Currie Cup. He didn't need to - he did his talking on the field... He lead from the front... And look how that inspired his team. JdV should either take a leaf out of his book (instead of the John Smit "calm down, calm down" book) - or otherwise he should stand down as vice captain and make way for Deon Fourie.
Posted 15:03 28th February 2013