1
Video - Kolbe inflicts sidestepping 'Groundhog Day' on Jacob Stockdale
By Ian Cameron
Ulster Jacob Stockdale must be sick of the sight of Cheslin Kolble, the Toulouse winger who now surely stalks the Ulsterman's dreams.
Toulouse bagged a rare 29 - 22 win over Ulster in Belfast last night in the Heineken Champions Cup, with two tries from the Springbok pocket rocket more or less the difference between the two sides at Kingspan Stadium.
The first try saw him chip ahead and collect to cap off a remarkable 50-metre solo. It was a brilliant bit of individual skill.
However it was his second try that might be harder for Stockdale to process, as it bore an eerie resemblance to a previous try he scored against the hulking Irishman. Kolbe got the ball on the right flank and smashed his trademark right foot step to leave Stockdale whizzing by.
You could see that Stockdale knew it was coming and was adjusting for the inevitable change of direction, but the sheer explosiveness of the step meant his intervention still came to nought. Well, not quite nought, as he did down the World Cup winner, albeit only briefly.
While not quite a like-for-like, it was very close to the try Kolbe scored against Ulster in the quarter-final of the Heineken Champions Cup back in September, again of course, with Stockdale on the receiving end.
It was hard lines for Stockdale, the 2018 Six Nations Player of the Championship, who has struggled to quite find the form that lit up that tournament two and half years ago. In his defence, for larger wingers like the 6'3, 102kg Stockdale, defending 5'8, 80kg wingers like Kolbe can prove to be extremely tricky assignments.
Stockdale is no slouch athletically - he has clocked a 9.97 metres per second GPS speed - but direction changes when defending Kolbe - arguably the best stepper in world rugby - are a different kettle of fish.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Four Ireland talking points as Aki axed and two rookies make bench
3
New scrumhalf rule among 4 global Law trials as others shot down
4
All Blacks team to play France
5
Latest Comments
Nice one John. I agree that defence (along with backfield kick receipt/positioning) remains their biggest issue, but that I did see some small improvements in it despite the scoreline like the additional jackal attempts from guys like tupou and the better linespeed in tight. But, I still see two issues - 1) yes they are jackaling, but as you point out they aren't slowing the ball down. I think some dark arts around committing an extra tackler, choke tackles, or a slower roll away etc could help at times as at the moment its too easy for oppo teams to get quick ball (they miss L wright). Do you have average ruck speed? I feel like teams are pretty happy these days to cop a tackle behind the ad line if they still get quick ball... and 2) I still think the defence wide of the 3-4th forward man out looks leaky and disconnected and if sua'ali'i is going to stay at 13 I think we could see some real pressure through that channel from other teams. The wallabies discipline has improved and so they are giving away less 3 pt opportunities and kicks into their 22 via penalty. Now, they need to be able to force teams to turnover the ball and hold them out. They scramble quite well once a break is made, but they seem to need the break to happen first... Hunter, marika and daugunu were other handy players to put ruck pressure on. Under rennie, they used to counter ruck quite effectively to put pressure on at the b/down as well.
Go to commentsYes, probably why he still annoys me even now
Go to comments