Champions Cup, Quarterfinals - Teams and Predictions
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY PREVIEW: The South African rugby public will be eager to see if their country will be represented in the Champions Cups semifinals this season.
The Sharks will line up against Stade Toulousain in their Champions Cup top-eight encounter in Toulouse, France on Saturday, with the Stormers running out shortly after against the Exeter Chiefs in southwest England.
Stade Toulousain will be hunting their sixth win in a row when they host the Sharks at Stade Ernest Wallon, but they will be wary of the fact that the Durbanites have only suffered one defeat in the competition this season and that they are fresh off a 50-point score against Munster in their Round of 16 clash.
They will also be mindful of the fact that the Sharks boast a better attacking track record this season having scored 169 points to 143 by Toulouse.
However, the French outfit has conceded half the number of points than the KwaZulu-Natalians, which is expected to spice up the clash.
Stade Toulousain, however, will draw inspiration from their passionate home crowd and the fact that the Durban side had to travel this week. But with a semifinal spot at stake, neither team is expected to give an inch.
One player that the Sharks will have to keep an eye on is Toulouse scrumhalf Antoine Dupont.
Dupont is at the heart of Toulouse's game plan and he will look to give the visitors plenty of problems out wide on Saturday.
"He is not the world's best player for no reason. He is an amazing player and he has shown it over a number of games," said Powell.
"You will always get a good performance from him and that is exactly what we expect coming into this quarterfinal.
"Toulouse probably didn’t play that well against the Bulls, but they still managed to pull it through. I think they had a few opportunities that they didn’t finish in that game.
"He [Dupont] is right in the middle of everything that Toulouse does from an attacking point of view. Even defensively he is really good and his kicking game is good, so he is just a good all-round player.
"We obviously tried to profile him as much as possible to make the players understand what they are going to be up against.
"All we can do is show the players the pictures, so when things happen on the field they can Identify and act accordingly."
The Sharks will have a lot of confidence after their victory against Munster, but Powell has warned his team that they will have to bring that intensity again this week.
"It was a good win. We had a good look at that game and we understand that we need to make a step up every time we come back into this competition," said Powell.
"We made a few mistakes, especially that last 10 or 15 minutes in the game where we conceded so many tries.
"It's definitely great to have that win over Munster, but also knowing that we got to start all over this week.
"We can’t rely on what we did in the Munster game to get us through this game, so we have to start building the innings again and we have to be physical again at the beginning of the game and make sure that we do exactly what we plan to do.
"It is basically starting on zero again and building from that first whistle."
Storm warning at Sandy Park
The Stormers will face an equally tough challenge after finding out at the last minute that they had to travel to the UK after Exeter held a 14-man Montpellier side to a nail-biting 33-33 draw after a 100-minute marathon in their round of 16 clash last Sunday.
With home ground advantage and Exeter’s extra 34 points on attack in their five encounters expected to boost their confidence, they will be mindful of the fact that the Stormers hold a marginally better defensive record, meaning it could prove to be a humdinger of a clash.
The Capetonians, in particular, would have taken valuable lessons from their Round of 16 clash against Harlequins last week in which they leaked three tries in the eight minutes – which is a mistake they cannot afford again, especially with the competition reaching its peak.
"They [Exeter] are sitting with a lot of guys in the England squad and who have England caps already," said Stormers centre Ruhan Nel, who will get his 50th cap for the Capetonians on Saturday.
"Playing at home, we all saw what a massive difference it made for them over the weekend.
"I also do think that after playing against 14 guys, they will look to rectify the display they had. They maybe made it difficult for themselves playing against 14 men and not wrapping it up a bit earlier, so we are expecting them to be better this weekend.
"It's a lekker challenge for us travelling away from home and playing in a quarterfinal."
Exeter's Director of Rugby Rob Baxter labelled the Stormers as favourites for the clash, but Nel is not reading too much into those comments.
"I think that is just a bit of mind games. I don't believe any coach will tell his team they are probably going to lose this quarterfinal at home," said Nel.
"We don't look too much into that.
"I think the SA teams over this last couple of years played enough mind games with one another in South Africa, so we don't look too much into that.
"I firmly believe that is not how he will get his team up for this weekend."
There is another quarterfinal clash that will be played on Sunday.
Defending champions Stade Rochelais will host English giants Saracens at the Stade Marcel Deflandre.
Lock Maro Itoje is excited to head to a place where Saracens have never played before.
“I hear it’s an amazing environment. To be taking on the current holders is incredibly exciting and it will be a great occasion, one that we are very much looking forward to.
"You can’t take these moments for granted, knockout rugby is a special privilege and we know we’re playing a very good team but we need to make sure the occasion brings the best out of us.”
See below for Saturday and Sunday's predictions!
Saturday, April 8:
Toulouse v Sharks
(Stade Ernest Wallon, Toulouse – Kick-off: 16.00; 16.00 SA time; 14.00 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Toulouse by 11 points.
Teams:
Toulouse: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Juan Cruz Mallia, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Pita Ahki, 11 Matthis Lebel, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (capyain), 8 Francois Cros, 7 Thibaud Flament, 6 Jack Willis, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Richie Arnold, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Cyril Baille.
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 David Ainu’u, 19 Alexandre Roumat, 20 Joshua Brennan, 21 Alban Placines, 22 Arthur Retiere, 23 Dimitri Delibes.
Sharks: 15 Henry Chamberlain, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi (captain), 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Hyron Andrews, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Retshegofaditswe Nché.
Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Carlü Sadie, 19 Jeandre Labuschagne, 20 Phendulani Buthelezi, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Ben Tapuai, 23 Thaakir Abrahams.
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant Referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Jonathan Healy (England)
TMO: Tom Foley (England)
Exeter Chiefs v Stormers
(Sandy Park, Exeter – Kick-off: 17.30; 16.30 GMT; 18.30 SA time)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Exeter by four points.
Teams:
Exeter: 15 Tom Wyatt, 14 Jack Nowell (captain), 13 Henry Slade, 12 Sean O’Brien, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Joe Simmonds, 9 Will Becconsall, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Christ Tshiunza, 6 Jannes Kirsten, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Jonny Gray, 3 Marcus Street, 2 Dan Frost, 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Nika Abuladze, 18 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 19 Aidon Davis, 20 Dave Ewers, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Stuart Hogg.
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Seabelo Seabelo, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Hacjivah Dayimani, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Clayton Blommetjies.
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistanr Referees: Ludovic Cayre (France), Jonathan Gasnier (France)
TMO: Thomas Charabas (France)
Sunday, April 9:
Stade Rochelais v Saracens
(Stade Marcel Deflandre, La Rocehlle – Kick-off: 16.00; 15.00 UK & Ireland time; 14.00 GMT)
Prediction
@rugby365com: Stade Rochelais by seven points.
Teams:
La Rochelle: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Jules Favre, 13 UJ Seuteni, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Antoine Hastoy, 9 Tawera Kerr Barlow, 8 Grégory Alldritt (captain), 7 Levani Botia, 6 Ultan Dillane, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Thomas Lavault, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Pierre Bourgarit, 1 Reda Wardi.
Replacements: 16 Quentin Lespiaucq, 17 Hayden Thompson-Stringer, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Romain Sazy, 20 Yoan Tanga, 21 Paul Boudehent, 22 Thomas Berjon, 23 Teddy Thomas.
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Max Malins, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Nick Isiekwe, 5 Hugh Tizard, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Tom Woolstencroft, 17 Eroni Mawi, 18 Christian Judge, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Jackson Wray, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Duncan Taylor, 23 Alex Lewington.
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland), Chris Busby (Ireland)
TMO: Joy Neville (Ireland)