Three try flurry saves Stormers
21 Apr 2006
Three tries in four minutes midway through the second half propelled the Stormers to their third away victory of the Vodacom Super 14 when they downed the Reds 24-20 in Brisbane.
The dance of the desperates never promised much, and errors plagued both side’s attempts to play constructively. The Stormers were further hamstrung by poor decision making – particularly at halfback – and a defensively frail back three. But for their four minute purple match, they did not threaten the Reds line with any conviction.
Credit, however, has to go to under-fire Stormers coach Kobus van der Merwe. His tactical decisions have been questionable this season, but tonight in Brisbane he got it right.
Last week the substitution of Naas Olivier after 50 minutes was a major contibuting factor to the defeat to the Chiefs. Now the same move was the catalyst to victory.
Olivier endured a disappointing first half, and the simulatenous injection of Peter Grant at flyhalf and Joe Pietersen at fullback sparked the Stormers, and 13-3 became 13-24 in minutes.
The momentum, so convincingly wrenched from the Reds, was never going to be conceded and a late score through veteran centre Ben Tune was a shade less than consolation.
The performance, coming after two consecutive defeats, was vital in the context of the Cape side’s season. The quality of the opposition was not great, but with the Crusaders, Sharks and Bulls to come, the Stormers knew that a win was crucial.
The confidence boost and familiar surroundings could well prove the cocktail that lifts the Stormers to a late season charge, ensuring respectability and – more importantly – time for the existing coaching staff and management.
Van der Merwe is a realist, and will know that the victory does not camouflage some home truths. Tonderai Chavhanga is not a fullback, he possesses neither the defensive ability or positional sense to inspire the most brittle confidence. His place is on the wing.
Jongi Nokwe, who later atoned through an 80 metre try, produced another wobbly with ball in hand and Rayno Benjamin was just plain appalling.
De Wet Barry, slated for the defeat against the Chiefs and caught up in the captaincy storm that followed, was immense in his return to jersey 12. Barry is not a 13 and if Van der Merwe cannot accomodate him as a 12 then he cannot accomodate him in the starting side.
Jean de Villiers underlined his split rugby personality further by again providing flashes of genius on attack, before fading to a ghost on defence. It was his awful attempt at a first-time tackle on Drew Mitchell that saw the Reds out to their convincing half time lead.
The Stormers return to Cape Town with renewed hope, but it is vital that perspective is maintained. The Reds in Brisbane are an entirely different prospect to the Crusaders in Cape Town, and it is the fixtures with the champions, semi-final chasing Sharks and arch enemies the Bulls that will decide whether the Cape side’s campaign will be deemed acceptable.
At this stage of the season, however, the Stormers will take what they get. Victory, no matter the opposition or the circumstance, is good enough for now.
THE MOMENTS THAT MATTER
78 mins: Consolation for the Reds through Ben Tune. Huxley converts. (Huxley 2/5)
60 mins: De Villiers inches from an intercept score. He knocks on unfortunately and it’s a Reds scrum.
58 mins: Stormers on fire! They score their try of the season with awesome work from De Villiers, Benjamin and Barry. Great support lines and handling sees Gerrie Britz under the poles. Grant converts. (Grant 3/3)
56 mins: Nokwe atones for a poor game with an 80m try. His control in dribbling from his own line is impressive and he has the pace and composure to score. Grant converts from in front , and the Stormers snatch the lead. (Grant 2/2)
54 mins: Stormers coach Kobus van der Merwe introduces Peter Grant and Joe Pietersen and it has an immediate impact. Strength in contact from Grant and fine touches from Pietersen see Brits make the scoring pass to Van Niekerk. Grant converts. (Grant 1/1)
51 mins: Andries Bekker is penalised for mountaineering, a call captain Barry and Bekker contest to no avail. Huxley to push the Reds out further … he’s missed an absolute sitter. (Huxley 1/4)
48 mins: Benjamin having a shocker. He knocks on again after a well worked Watson/Brits blindside move.
43 mins: 5m scrum sees Van Niekerk carry the ball strongly. It comes back to Olivier but he takes the wrong option and knocks on in heavy traffic.
42 mins: Stormers make a few metres through one-off runners, and the Reds concede the penalty. Barry instructs Olivier to go for the lineout, which is knocked on by the Reds. 5m scrum.
39 mins: Luke Watson makes a scrambling cover tackle that saves a certain score. Stormers’ line again broken with ease.
38 mins: Benjamin with an appalling clearance. The back three continue to struggle.
30 mins: Jean de Villiers AGAIN misses a routine tackle, he makes a pathetic attempt on Mitchell and the Wallaby flyer is through. Appalling, unacceptable defence. Huxley misses the conversion. (Huxley 1/3)
29 mins: Benjamin knocks the rolling ball. It’s not getting any better for those wearing 11,14 and 15.
26 mins: Great chase by Barry and fierce contesting by Burger wins the Stormers a vital penalty against the run of play. Big moments from the two Boks. Olivier has the chance to reduce the lead to two. He pushes it. (Olivier 1/2)
23 mins: Stormers back three on the ropes. Probing kicks behind Benjamin are also finding acres of space. Reds unlucky not to score from a maul when they’re pinged for accidental offside.
19 mins: Back three again appear shaky. Chavhanga takes the ball back into his 22 before clearing, thus the lineout is from where he kicked it. Reds showing a willingness to exploit Chavhanga and Nokwe’s brittle defence
18 mins: Reds not helping their cause by terrible tactical kicking. Second kick out on the full in 4 minutes.
16 mins: Simple high ball spilled by Nokwe.
14 mins: Good incisive attack by the Stormers. Barry and Chavhanga make good ground, but Nokwe is crowded out.
11 mins: Stormers retain possession well and get it within a metre. Reds pinged and this time Barry opts for the three. No problem for Olivier. (Olivier 1/1)
9 mins: Kickable penlty, and the Stormers opt for the lineout. Brave play.
7 mins: Naas Olivier’s attempted clearance is charged down, and from the resultant scrambling ruck De Wet Barry is pinged for hands. Gives Huxley the simplest chance to extend the lead, and he does. (Huxley 1/2)
6 mins: Reds inches away from another linebreak, this time in the Stormers 22. It’s tips of the fingers stuff for Drew Mitchell, and he just can’t hold on. Again, Stormers seem defensively frail out wide.
3 mins: Stormers start badly, as is now routine. They kick away a lot of possession early and concede a soft try to the rampaging Rodney Blake from close out.Julian Huxley has the chance to convert, but he pulls it. (Huxley 0/1)
SCORERS
Reds
Tries: Rodney Blake, Drew Mitchell and Ben Tune
Con: Julian Huxley
Pen: Huxley
Stormers
Tries: Joe van Niekerk, Jongi Nokwe and Gerrie Britz
Cons: Peter Grant 3
Pen: Naas Olivier
By Chris Hewitt
423 Comments
Pages: « 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 » Show All
21 Apr 2006, 11:43 am
Hop hop Spinnekop
Hak Hak Die stormers is K#K
21 Apr 2006, 11:43 am
breeker LOL
now when barry finished with demolishing stormers you want him to do the same with the best team in SA? Why? Do you hate bull so much?
21 Apr 2006, 11:44 am
pale-toe
Excellent
21 Apr 2006, 11:45 am
Reds draw first blood
21 Apr 2006, 11:45 am
Any live audio anyone?
21 Apr 2006, 11:46 am
wtf are the stomers doing?
this is how they started against the force. actually, its impossible to understand the SA teams at times.
21 Apr 2006, 11:46 am
Anvil
looks like reds will get all the blood not only first.
21 Apr 2006, 11:47 am
Here comes a hiding …. again
21 Apr 2006, 11:48 am
That didn’t take long…who missed the tackle?
21 Apr 2006, 11:48 am
ha ha ciccino.
Bet the Stormers wish Corne was there to bleed for them.
21 Apr 2006, 11:48 am
Robbery by the ref, the penalty should have gone the other way.
21 Apr 2006, 11:48 am
Penalty Reds , Stormers is kicking away possesion
21 Apr 2006, 11:48 am
Sorry chaps, I can’t be bothered to comment on this game. The Stormers are not worthy of me watching them play…
21 Apr 2006, 11:49 am
Good luck Mountain Goats, you are gonna have to come right soon,lets hope its against a foreign team. That backline could be devastating, lets hope they in the mood today.
21 Apr 2006, 11:50 am
10 mins gone, and have they had their hands on the ball yet (de wet excluded obviously)
21 Apr 2006, 11:50 am
Frazer for a friday mornings viewing who can blame you..it’s bound to upset the rest of your weekend.
21 Apr 2006, 11:51 am
anvil
since corne left the whole team has shed blood for the jersey…only prob is dat its been from the arse, poor montain goaties hav been raped in recent times!!!
21 Apr 2006, 11:52 am
8 – 3
21 Apr 2006, 11:52 am
8-3
21 Apr 2006, 11:54 am
i think this has the potential of being an extremely kak game to watch.
21 Apr 2006, 11:54 am
Coffee – Yep, it’s just gonna f@£K my entire weekend up if I get so bitter on a Friday morning….
21 Apr 2006, 11:54 am
The hell with this going to find some work to do before listening to this **** of the stormers playing so ****
21 Apr 2006, 11:55 am
Superrugby says that it is 7 – 3????
21 Apr 2006, 11:55 am
Reds should have gotten a card…..opting to give the penalty!!! If it was Barry….it would have been yellow!!
21 Apr 2006, 11:56 am
the only thing Corne can do is to bleed. Watched him yesterday on Boot&All his comments about inexperienced stormers are so childish. Inexperiensed tighthead – what about “mighty” Andrews, how inexperiensed he is. Locks – How inexperienced Britz is? Flyhalf – can’t say anything both very young. Fullback – how inexperienced Greff is. Yes he is injured but at the beggining of the S14 he was there and same result. The problrm of Stormers and I sad it many times is that they have more boks in their lineup than any other SA team. And those bok are very comfortable oth their bok prospect till WC so that they don’t have any desire to put 100% effort and their body on the line as they can get injured and miss internationals.
21 Apr 2006, 11:56 am
superrugby is deur die blare
21 Apr 2006, 11:57 am
Every morning when the English teacher came to the Afrikaans students to
give them an English lecture she greeted them as follows; “Good morning
class!” and every time only one boy would get up out of the whole class
to greet the teacher in return. This happened time and again until she
decided to call him up to her desk and ask him loud enough for everyone
to hear: “Why is it that every time I greet the whole class, only you
stand up to greet me?” He replied to the teacher in English
“It are ’cause I are the only person here what’s name are Klaas!”
21 Apr 2006, 12:00 pm
How is smoking Joe VN doing ?
21 Apr 2006, 12:00 pm
Anvil
His stylist is on the sideline giving him tips.
21 Apr 2006, 12:01 pm
no one seem to be watching the game and updating the forum, so dont know
21 Apr 2006, 12:01 pm
Anvil – On the sidelines smoking.
21 Apr 2006, 12:01 pm
ciccino – I don’t know if you’ve ever played rugby, but it’s impossible to play to 50% of your potential on purpose. You just get out there and play, and react to what’s happening around you. So I think your theory is silly.
21 Apr 2006, 12:01 pm
I am watching the game live. The Stormers do not have a clue. Sorry to say but the reds are winning this one with a bonus point.
Before K/O they interviewed Fester on tv. What a joke. He is the biggest po#s of the season. He could not mumble 5 words together. Sad day in Stormer rugby today!
21 Apr 2006, 12:02 pm
Stormers totally without composure & little or no cover for their inexperienced back three.
21 Apr 2006, 12:02 pm
Hello Guys, Am working can’t watch the game….What is the score now and the try count situation..Thanks
21 Apr 2006, 12:03 pm
Shred
I know… Weird, but it is 8-3
21 Apr 2006, 12:03 pm
8-3 – obviously a try to Reds
21 Apr 2006, 12:04 pm
Stormsaam, that is how the Stormers have been playing the whole season. Apart from one realy good game against Carlos Spencer last year, there really hasn’t been anything to write home about!
21 Apr 2006, 12:04 pm
Geez make Britz a centre. Stomers losing their line-outs again.
21 Apr 2006, 12:05 pm
Langes
It is going to be a long day at work.
I am craving for a whisky.
21 Apr 2006, 12:05 pm
This back 3 of the Stormers are getting thrown around like rag dolls. They’re just too puny to play at this level.
21 Apr 2006, 12:06 pm
Dont worry fellas.Watson will turn this game around all by himself again !
21 Apr 2006, 12:06 pm
Frazer,
May be it is silly. But do you have any smart explanation why the side full of boks (meaning the best players in the country)is playing so bad? the same players show more on the field when they play in the national team. I don’t know but the only reason I came up was the lack of commitment as I don’t believe a good player can become bad one in 3 month.
21 Apr 2006, 12:07 pm
Maybe, I’m biased, but in my eyes SA players just seem to miss so many more vital tackles. We make really big heavy ones in the middle of the field, but in our 25, we just seem incapable.
21 Apr 2006, 12:07 pm
If you’re not in front of a TV be grateful. A better commentary is http://live.planet-rugby.com/2006/04/21/1368.shtml
21 Apr 2006, 12:07 pm
Dood, I ‘ve already downed my first shot and it wont be the last!
21 Apr 2006, 12:07 pm
how is the lineouts going?
21 Apr 2006, 12:07 pm
Ciccino – I have a very good explanation for it – FESTER!
21 Apr 2006, 12:08 pm
kyer
Not only do we miss tackles but our handling skills are the pits.
Hell all we do is kick and we cant even do that right
21 Apr 2006, 12:08 pm
thats sad to hear gecko. kyer we cant tackle for ****, its why JW wants more solid players, and why all the speed in the world means nothing when the oppo just runs over you.
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