Stormers survive the Hurricane
25 Feb 2012
JON CARDINELLI reports on the Stormers’ unconvincing 39-26 win over an ill-disciplined yet plucky Hurricanes side on Saturday.
A last-minute effort by fullback Joe Pietersen so nearly earned the Stormers a bonus-point try, but it seemed fitting that the Cape side were denied a full-haul of log points. In fact, the Stormers turned in a performance that was at times so loose that they were fortunate to walk away with a win at all.
They dominated the early stages of the first half, their forwards manhandling the tourists at the point of contact and via the rolling maul. The loss of captain Schalk Burger to what appeared to be a serious knee injury did little to stall their forward momentum, and by the 34th minute they had established a formidable 20-9 lead.
It was all the Hurricanes could do to spoil at the breakdowns and at the maul, and by the end of the half they had lost props Tristan Moran and Ben May to yellow cards for professional fouls. Despite the two-man disadvantage, however, the Hurricanes stonewalled the limited Stormers attack and struck with a try of their own right on half-time. Beauden Barrett followed up a cool goal-kicking display with a game-breaking offload right on the buzzer, and centre Tim Bateman finished under the posts.
Suddenly the team that had been on the wrong side of a savage beating was only seven points adrift. The Hurricanes were also first to score in the second stanza when Barrett intercepted a loose pass by Jean de Villiers and raced clear. The young flyhalf showed terrific pace to avoid a desperate Gio Aplon en route to the tryline, and then managed to get up and slot a difficult conversion.
The next 20 minutes was a mixed bag for the hosts, who produced some impressive forward drives but also put themselves under unnecessary pressure with basic errors. If they had been playing a more experienced Hurricanes outfit, they may not have been so fortunate to escape with the spoils.
They were awarded a penalty try after a sustained period on attack in Hurricanes territory, and Pietersen continued to knock the penalties over to generate some breathing room. There were some positives in an largely erratic display, and Pietersen’s goal-kicking under pressure was certainly one of them.
The maul also worked well, but the Stormers still seem to lack that killer instinct on attack. They should have scored a try towards the end of the first half and buried the Hurricanes, but flyhalf Gary van Aswegen eventually opted for the drop goal after it was clear the hosts weren’t going anywhere. This after stand-in captain Jean de Villiers had decided to turn down goalable penalties and push for the try.
There were also a number of youngsters on show for the hosts, but considering their fine start, they should have put this inexperienced and ill-disciplined Hurricanes side away by far more.
319 Comments
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26 Feb 2012, 11:05 am
The DHL Stormers scooped the prestigious VIRGIN ATLANTIC BEST BUSINESS PERFORMANCE BY A SPORT TEAM award at the Virgin Active Sports Industry Awards in Johannesburg last night.
The VIRGIN ACTIVE SPORT INDUSTRY AWARDS honour business achievement for the sports industry as a whole and cover the business of sport, marketing, PR, sponsorship, advertising, community investment and mass participation.
The DHL Stormers were shortlisted with the Vodacom Bulls and the Chevrolet Warriors in the BEST BUSINESS PERFORMANCE category, edging both out to take the trophy for a second year in a row.
26 Feb 2012, 11:13 am
@IAAS(I am a stormer)-301: Nice man.
26 Feb 2012, 11:26 am
I wonder how much jonker cost the 2nd raters to ref the game for them for a home win,as he did a good job for them maybe he will even get a bonus.
26 Feb 2012, 11:35 am
@blueboy(blueboy)-303: Do you have any idea how stupid you sound?
26 Feb 2012, 11:49 am
#304 2nd rater in a tin can In sport my friend anything is possible,you have a short memory there were similar rumours about bryce lawrence and his performance in the world cup ozzies v boks game.I never said he DID get paid it was only a thought as his refeering performance had the look of home town referee about it,even skopshite mentioned a home town prformance.
26 Feb 2012, 11:54 am
@blueboy(blueboy)-305: Son, your justification makes you look even stupider, ” I never said he DID get paid”…” I wonder how much jonker cost the 2nd raters”.
Quit while you are way behind and save what little face you have left.
26 Feb 2012, 12:06 pm
@blueboy(blueboy)-305:
GIRFUY indeed.
26 Feb 2012, 12:35 pm
#307JOCK SOCK,POCH MOHONE.
26 Feb 2012, 12:37 pm
#3062nd rater in a tincan,boy you 2nd raters are easy to win up,it is just like throwing in a line and reeling you in.
26 Feb 2012, 12:38 pm
that should have been wind up
26 Feb 2012, 12:43 pm
If you look at a lot of the posts by different bloggers they mentioned a ref bias for the 2nd raters and they blogged long before i did.
26 Feb 2012, 12:44 pm
@blueboy(blueboy)-308:
Your spelling is as bad as your choice in rugby teams
26 Feb 2012, 12:55 pm
#312 jock sok my choice in rugby teams has given me the PLEASURE of seeing my team win 3 super rugby titles and a few cc wins over the last ten years what have you had the pleasure of watching your team winning F##K ALL,so as the say in afrikaans HOU JOU BEK.Do you know what POCH MOHONE means i hope so.
26 Feb 2012, 13:28 pm
@stormer in a teacup(stormer in a teacup)-285:
And the voice of reason comes out.
Always a pleasure reading what you write.
Totally understand and agree with you. Just a few on here seem to be happy with the performance.
Win is a win but playing like that will no doubt lose you more than you win.
26 Feb 2012, 13:42 pm
@blueboy(blueboy)-313:
Lolz. Sure I do bigboyblue, but I didn’t learn it yesterday as you seem to have.
And about the spelling, it’s pogue mahone. Which you and your rugby team can both do.
Will you be changing your name to pinkboy btw?
26 Feb 2012, 14:34 pm
Póg mo thóin.
Kiss my a ss.
Nice.
26 Feb 2012, 21:15 pm
The Stormers were absolutely useless yesterday. The were lucky they only played against 13 players. I think they would have had their buts handed to them on a plate had it not been for so many yellow cards.
26 Feb 2012, 21:28 pm
@kingcorn(kingcorn)-317: was perplexed myself.16-man teams normally don’t play this bad against 13-man teams.
26 Feb 2012, 21:33 pm
@blueboy(blueboy)-303: I was wondering that
myself now blueboy.
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