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Stormers v Chiefs: The Hard Numbers
By Sam Smith
The Chiefs will be hoping for a repeat of last season's quarter final thrashing of the Stormers, while the home side are looking for just their second finals victory in 9 attempts.
The numbers don't definitively point in any one direction ahead of this clash but they do make for interesting reading...
- The Stormers earned an eight-point win against the Chiefs when they met in Round 7 this season and will search for back-to-back wins against them for the first time since 2008; however, the Chiefs earned a comprehensive 60-21 win when these teams met in last season’s quarter-finals.
- The Stormers have only one Finals Series win to their name in Super Rugby history despite playing in eight such fixtures (L7).
- The Chiefs have won five and drawn one of their seven fixtures away from home this season; their only road loss came when they traveled to Cape Town in Round 7.
- The Chiefs have conceded only 13 first-half tries so far this season, the fewest of any team in the competition and 20 fewer than the Stormers.
- SP Marais has made 31 offloads so far this campaign, the equal most of any player in the competition and six more than Chiefs’ best Damian McKenzie (25).
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Latest Comments
There is nothing particularly significant about Ireland in this regard compared to other Tier 1 nations. To look at 'strategy' for illegal play its best to see what teams push boundaries with new laws. SA have milked two tries at ruck block downs. The strategy is to charge the first few before the ball is out at about 4 seconds but pull out and put up hands in reigned apology. The referees usually allow the scum half to clear without awarding a penalty in this scenario. The problem with that being that the scrumhalf is now taking over 5 seconds through no fault of his own. Having achieved a few slow balls > 5s , the SA forward can now pick a scrum to charge dead on 5s. Now if the scrum half waits, he will concede a penalty, as we saw against Scotland. With the new rule in place, any early charge should result in an immediate penalty.
SA also got an offside block against England which was pivotal again after a couple of 'apologetic' offside aborted charges forcing England to clear slowly.
Go to commentsYep, you're not the sharpest tool in the shed are you?
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