Feeney heaps praise on Rhule

Stormers skills coach Paul Feeney heaped praise on wing Raymond Rhule after his strong performance against the Reds last weekend in a game which the Stormers won 25-19.

Rhule was the official man-of-the-match after scoring a try where he ran on to a well-weighted kick from wing Craig Barry.

He was also the main architect of the Stormers’ opening try in which he occupied two Reds defenders to free up space for centre EW Viljoen and scrumhalf Dewald Duvenage to combine for the try.

As usual his overall workrate was impressive and he only missed two tackles in the match. But according to the stats he is still the tournaments’ worst defender‚ with 16 missed tackles.

Feeney though‚ wasn’t having it.

“Raymond Rhule has been fantastic for us. People don’t see the quality he brings all over the park or his professionalism in training‚” Feeney said.

“The amount of research and analysis he does is impressive. He’s been great for us and yes he’s missed a couple of tackles‚ but no more than anyone else.

“I know who misses tackles and who doesn’t because I take care of the unstructured defence and I analyse it every week.

“It's a bit harsh when he is massively criticised for missing a tackle on Waisake Naholo – there are a few people who have missed him.

“Or against the Blues‚ he missed one against Rieko Ioane – aw that’s a big sin isn't it? Look at the players he’s been asked to tackle – they are the best in the world and he won’t be the last to miss Ioane or Naholo‚ I can tell you that for free.

“Individual tackle technique is something we are working on with all our players and for Raymond to get singled out is exceptionally harsh.”

Feeney was left frustrated after the Reds match that the Stormers didn't come away with a try-scoring bonus point after leading 18-0 after 33 minutes.

The Reds scored a late try to come away with a losing bonus point and as Feeney said‚ it was a two-point swing on the standings.

“Craig Barry’s kick to put Raymond away was a superb decision and if we’re honest‚ we have to do more of that‚” Feeney said.

“The backline does hours of drills on taking options and when you see a training drill come off in the game‚ it’s always pleasing.

“I’m frustrated mainly because I thought there was a bonus point up for grabs and we had our chances.

“We’re heading in the right direction and playing good football.

“But we need to be more patient on attack. However‚ you don’t want to curb decision-making and if players think an offload is on‚ it’s about making a good decision.

“I talk about the 70/30 split. If you’re going to get seven good offloads away out of 10‚ I’d take that as a coach because that will give you chances. But on a 50/50 you shouldn’t be taking those odds.

“This year we haven’t played with as much width as last year because our forward ball carrying through the middle has been better. But we have to marry that to our wide game as well.

“Having to change the back three often does make it difficult to get our wide game going. But it’s part of rugby and we have done pretty well with our ‘injured backline’.”