Why rain would, ironically, favour the free-spirited Stormers more in URC showpiece

Conventional wisdom says that rain favours more conservative, percentage-based teams.

That would suggest - at first glance at least - that should Saturday's United Rugby Championship (URC) final be dominated by the elements, Jake White's well-drilled Bulls might have the edge over a more free-spirited Stormers.

Yet, as former Springbok World Cup hero Joel Stransky rightly points out, that could prove to be faulty logic.

"I do think [rain] will suit the Stormers more," he told a URC roundtable discussion this week.

"They have a big front row and a strong bench. As much as we think as backline players we win or lose the game, we don’t - it is won and lost up front.

"I say this with a bit of a caveat, but scrummaging has become such a massive part of the modern game.” 

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And when one considers that the hosts possess two of the best props in world rugby - skipper Steven Kitshoff and the wily Frans Malherbe - and come up against a Bulls front-row that is greatly improved but not the proverbial finished product, his argument has merit.

"If it's wet and miserable, you think there will be more errors, and you would fancy the likes of Steven and Frans will have a dominant effect at scrum time," said Stransky.

"The tight phase would be a big thing and then you would have to look at the Stormers."

It all comes down to one game: The Final of the @Vodacom #URC will be contested between the Vodacom Bulls and the DHL Stormers in Cape Town ???? pic.twitter.com/FBSDWgii2i

The picture, predictably, becomes far more muddled if one forecast for the weather clearing up by late afternoon does indeed prove prophetic because then the marked difference between the