Sadie can provide X factor – Coetzee

Coetzee was forced to make one change from the team that comprehensively defeated the Sharks last week, with Bryan Habana unavailable due to injury. Whilst many would be surprised with the choice of Sadie over Danie Poolman, Coetzee feels his ability to do something special was the key to his selection.

“We felt that against a team like the Crusaders we needed to have a player on the wing who had X-factor, so with Bryan out we felt that Johann was the man to go for,” said Coetzee.

“Sadie is an exciting player who has the X-factor that we want, he is a player who can make things happen for us. It is not that we are dispensing with Danie Poolman. Danie is a solid and reliable player, but we are looking for something a little different this week. Danie will probably come on tour with us and we will be using him again.”

Peter Grant still hasn’t trained since sustaining his knee injury in the Reds game and Coetzee confirmed that he will definitely not be taking the field against the Crusaders.

A couple of players sat out of Wednesday afternoon’s training session but Coetzee said they had all participated fully in the morning practice, including Tiaan Liebenberg, the experienced hooker who makes his way back into Super Rugby by playing off the Stormers bench on Saturday. He replaces former Lions hooker Ethienne Reynecke in the only other change to the 22 that did duty against the Sharks.

Captain Schalk Burger is relishing the opportunity to take on the highly-rated Crusaders team in front of a sold-out Newlands. “Crusaders are the trend-setters this season and it will be a great challenge. It is not just Richie McCaw and Sonny Bill Williams, but the entire team is full of game breakers. We are playing against the world’s best and it is an opportunity for us to measure ourselves against the best.

“There are quality players all over the pitch and with a massive hype and a huge crowd at Newlands it should be a fantastic clash.”

With the talking over, now the Newlands faithful can look forward to what promises to be an epic encounter at the home

Stormers team: Conrad Jantjes, Johann Sadie, Jaque Fourie, Jean de Villiers, Gio Aplon, Lionel Cronje, Dewaldt Duvenage, Duane Vermeulen, Francois Louw, Schalk Burger (captain) , Andries Bekker, Rynhardt Elstadt, CJ van der Linde, Deon Fourie, Wicus Blaauw. Reserves: Tiaan Liebenberg, Brok Harris, De Kock Steenkamp, Nick Koster, Ricky Januarie, Kurt Coleman, Juan de Jongh.