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Schalk Burger names his surprise 'worst stadium'
By Jon Newcombe
As an 86-cap Springbok who has played in four Rugby World Cups and earned a living playing for clubs in his native South Africa, England and Japan, former flanker Schalk Burger has seen his fair share of stadiums.
Like any player, Burger has his favourite and not-so-favourite venues but he goes against the grain when picking the worst, by choosing somewhere that he used to call home.
In reviewing the opening round of the Investec Champions Cup on the Christmas edition of Boks Office, Burger made it clear that the StoneX Stadium, where he played for Saracens, is not a place that holds especially fond memories.
The 41-year-old said: "It’s possibly one of the worst stadiums to come and play.
"Teams hate going there. It’s hard on that artificial (surface), I get a mild panic attack thinking about playing on that thing which I did for three years. It is brutal."
Burger's former team did a number on the Bulls, winning 27-5, in a masterful display of playing to the conditions.
The Bulls chose to play with a howling gale behind them in the first half and it seemed like a sound decision when Willie le Roux put Sebastian de Klerk away in the corner for the opening score after 10 minutes.
Saracens, though, put on a demonstration of controlled rugby after that to come back and lead 8-5 at the break, before scoring 19 unanswered points in the second half in a 27-5, bonus-point victory.
Burger was critical of the Bulls' decision to play with the wind in the first half but also applauded Saracens for how they dealt with the conditions.
"If you’re Saracens you’ve trained in that on Friday, you only train there once a week. You know that wind, you know when to kick the contestables. That field bounces funny so if you think you can just hammer it for distance down the middle, the ball can roll for 40 metres.
"But on top of that, they (Saracens) were just the better-coached side. I think certain parts of the Saracens performance were what Saracens always bring with how they 'out-guts' you, like at the breakdown, the lineout; they are bloody physical; their defensive sets were solid – it took a great pass from Willie Le Roux to unlock it in the first 10 minutes.
"But once they (Saracens) got hold of the game-management side of the game, by playing and then kicking, they were impressive into the wind and how much they held onto the ball.
"The Bulls just didn’t play the conditions correctly. Some coaches want to play downwind first half, I reckon you do the hard graft first.
"That wind was so strong it almost took the contestable (kick) out (of it). But I think against the wind the contestable is a good one because it comes towards you, it comes back, so it is hard to get under it. And then you’ve got to change the plan up a bit playing down (wind), you’ve almost got to try and kick early but pin it into a corner.
"If it was at Loftus, I think the Bulls would have won that one. But not at the StoneX."
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