Brett brewing up a 'storm'

Crusaders fly-half cum centre Stephen Brett is determined to carry his good form with him into Newlands Stadium where the six-time Super Rugby champs take on the Stormers in Cape Town on Friday.

Crusaders fly-half cum centre Stephen Brett is determined to carry his good form with him into Newlands Stadium where the six-time Super Rugby champs take on the Stormers in Cape Town on Friday.

The 22-year old had a stormer of a game (sorry – Ed!) against the Bulls last week and as only the second youngest member – Kade Poki being the youngest – in a vastly experienced backline, Brett played a key role in the Crusaders' 54-19 win.

With last year's losing semi-finalists' having finally taken revenge on the defending champion Bulls, Brett and his team-mates now focus their attention towards another goal – departing South Africa unbeaten for the first time in six campaigns.

Having lost against the Stormers on their last visit to Newlands two years ago, Crusaders fans will be hoping Brett will be in the same winning frame of mind as he was against the Bulls in Pretoria.

“Yeah, it's just a case of continuing where I left off against the Bulls,” Brett told Planet Rugby

“I definitely want to carry on playing well for my team-mates and live up to the Crusaders' belief of playing to the best you can.

“Nobody wants to be known as a one-game-wonder, you just have to keep building on your own performance game in and game out.”

Unfortunatelly for the Crusaders' “Boy Wonder”, he put in an all-round performance last week that will be quite hard to forget.

Brett continuously had the ability to straighten lines, finding holes that others would have shut. And his combination with All Black pivot Dan Carter, who also played a huge part in the win, was a joy to watch.

So what can we come to expect from the young centre this time round against the Stormers?

“My mental approach will be pretty much the same, but my physical approach will be a bit different,” said Brett.

“The Stormers will approach the game a lot differently to the Bulls, so it's going be a whole new ball game.”

With the Crusaders up against a backline that has scored just two tries in their last two outings, Brett still faces a tough task against opposite number Jean de Villiers.

“The Stormers backline will have different structures in their defence patterns and De Villiers is quite a good tackler, so I'll have to be wary of him,” said Brett.

“I don't think we'll run into that channel very often, but you never know what will happen.”

With the Springbok centre yet to fire on all cylinders, De Villiers may be looking at other means to cross the Crusaders' whitewash by living up to his reputation as the king of interceptions.

One might recall De Villiers's predecessor De Wet Barry opening up the scoring with a crucial intercept try that got the ball rolling towards a memorable 28-17 win against the Crusaders at the same venue in 2006.

“Yeah, we have to watch out for that guy (De Villiers),” said Brett.

“He's the intercept king, and considering that the Stormers put their first score past us with an intercept last time out, we'll have to make it a little harder for them this time round.”

Having played most of his Super Rugby in 2007 for the Crusaders at fly-half, Brett's switch to inside centre this year has been a blessing in disguise with his creative potential still visible in the number twelve jersey.

“With DC (Dan Carter) leaving the team early last year for the All Blacks' re-conditioning program prior to the World Cup, it gave me the experience needed to step up to this level,” said Brett.

“Now that I've been moved out to number twelve, it's just another string in my bow really.

“So with DC inside me and Casey Laulala on my outside, I feel a lot more confident with myself and how I play.”

Brett's position and regular appearances in the team were perhaps helped along by the departure of All Black centre Aaron Mauger to the Northern Hemisphere.

However the confident Cantab is taking the open space left my Mauger with both hands.

“I think I was a bit lucky with Aaron leaving to play overseas,” admitted Brett.

“But I took the opportunity to play in the number twelve jersey with both hands, and I'm going to continue taking every chance I get by making it count.”

Brett has often been labelled as the next Dan Carter, but with both talents playing along side each other, it's turned out to be a case of master and the apprentice in the Crusaders' backline.

“A lot of people have compared myself with DC over the last couple of years,” said Brett.

“But if you want to call it a case of master and apprentice, then I'm definitely trying to take down all my master's notes!”

By Dave Morris