Stormers stem Red tide
20 Apr 2012
JON CARDINELLI watched the Stormers repel a late Reds rally to record an impressive 23-13 win in Brisbane.
The Stormers continue to deliver in the face of trying circumstances. They went into this game without Schalk Burger, Jean de Villiers or Andries Bekker, and still they managed to play with the composure and resolve needed to topple the best Super Rugby has to offer.
Some will argue that the Stormers should have put this Reds side away by more, as the Queenslanders suffered some serious injuries early in the piece. Coach Ewen McKenzie would have been feeling a sick sense of deja vu as flyhalf Sam Lane and then centre Ben Tapuai left the field inside the first 10 minutes. At that point the Reds were already 10-0 down, and were battling for any sort of momentum.
But to dismiss the Reds’ effort under these circumstances would also detract from the Stormers’ achievement. The Reds fought hard to stay in the game, and as the clock wound down in the second half, the visitors were made to fight just as hard to keep the Reds at arm’s length.
At times the Stormers attacked with confidence and purpose, but it was another fantastic forward effort and titanic defensive display that earned them an important win. The Cape heavies made an impression at the collisions from the first minute, and maintained that intensity throughout. It was at the point of contact where they troubled the Reds, and in many instances created attacking opportunities.
It didn’t matter that the Stormers struggled for territory. The Reds pack battled to build momentum from the scrum and at the collisions, and the Stormers were quick to pounce on a turnover and unleash a backline that was in a mood to counter-attack.
It was a turnover that allowed the Stormers to win a lineout deep in the Reds’ half in the 10th minute. Juan de Jongh crashed it up before Peter Grant attacked the line. Grant then effected a telling offload in the tackle to Gio Aplon, and at 10-0 the visitors had raced to a good lead.
The Reds managed to settle as the half progressed, but showed a lack of discipline in that crucial period just before half-time. A penalty attempt by Ben Lucas dropped short and the Stormers ran it back at a disorganised Reds defence until they were deep in the opposition 22. Some terrific skills allowed the Stormers to keep the ball alive, and from a later phase Grant sniped again, reached for the tryline, and scored.
At 17-3 it appeared to be all over for the shell-shocked Reds. McKenzie had gone into this match with five forwards on his bench and the early injuries to Lane and Tapuai had forced him to field both of his backline reserves. The Reds were hanging on at half-time.
The Stormers showed their composure in the second stanza. It wasn’t a case of defending a 14-point lead, but more a case of understanding that the Reds were battling to trouble their forwards. And as the game continued, the Reds did indeed become more desperate.
The hosts had their chances to narrow the deficit, and turned down a few shots at goal in favour of a crack at the tryline. The decision proved flawed as Rob Simmons lost the ball over the line, and the Stormers defence managed to clear from a subsequent scrum. This was but one of many instances where a Reds venture into Stormers territory culminated in a frustrating turnover.
It was far from a perfect showing from the Stormers, and while their leaders pulled them through they missed Andries Bekker’s management skills at the lineout.
The visitors’ blew a few early opportunities through lineout turnovers in good attacking positions. They also gifted a try to James Horwill in the 63rd minute when replacement hooker Deon Fourie missed his jumper at a set piece five metres from his own tryline.
But the Reds never looked like closing the gap. Their desperation grew as the full-time hooter drew close, and they passed up a shot at goal in favour of another dip at the tryline.
Again it ended in a turnover. They managed to win another penalty which Mike Harris duly slotted, but then they blew any chance of a draw or indeed a losing bonus point when they conceded a three-pointer at the other end of the park.
The Stormers still lack the killer instinct to be considered a real title prospect, but what is clear is that there is a tremendous belief in their playing pattern.
Their defence was the difference on this occasion and takes them to two wins from three tour matches. With only the Force to play, they have a good chance of making that record three from four and stretching their lead at the top of the South African conference.
664 Comments
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20 Apr 2012, 23:09 pm
In your bloody faces you Stormer-hating Sharks and Bulls supporters!!!Why don’t you f0off and take that Cape Crusader supporters with you….well at least they only support one team unlike you k unts.
20 Apr 2012, 23:10 pm
@IAAS(I am a stormer)-548: although a very good loose trio , Alberts has just come back from injury and is a long way off form right now
20 Apr 2012, 23:10 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-536:
Hope you referring to me. Long time. ^5.
20 Apr 2012, 23:10 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-547:
I probably chuck Engelbrecht in there somewhere as a bolter back liner ahead of Taute / Ebersohn / Pietersen
20 Apr 2012, 23:11 pm
@stormerforlife1(stormerforlife1)-551: i guess you also arouond 5 years old?? only Knut here is you moron
20 Apr 2012, 23:12 pm
@IAAS(I am a stormer)-553: nope wasnt referring to you lol
20 Apr 2012, 23:13 pm
549 SL,
yep sharks def got the ability to pull it out tge bag but they are missing Beast IMO – chiefs side just too good unless homecrowd can sway it and sharks play out there socks. Should be a great game
20 Apr 2012, 23:13 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-550: sober up old man, all i have to do is look at ur drivel and see what it’s like to be 5 years old again
20 Apr 2012, 23:15 pm
@cab(cab)-557: Yup missing Beast big time, and all this BS about other looseheads ahead of the Beast by some in here?? total rubbish , Beast will be back with a vengance , mark my words
Also not having a fit genuine 5 lock is hurting the Sharks too
20 Apr 2012, 23:15 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-552:
It’s not the quickest trio around. But Vermeulen and Alberts are both adept at either 7 or 8 and know the short cuts around the field. And both know how to read a game and anticipate situations. Spies imo still has to get there.
20 Apr 2012, 23:16 pm
Hopefully the guppies can do the Stormers a favour by beating the Chiefs,but i seriously doubt it.
20 Apr 2012, 23:16 pm
IAAS
Good trio.
20 Apr 2012, 23:17 pm
@cab(cab)-557: Also the departure of a certain Smit is leaving its mark on Sharks rugby, that void is not easily filled
20 Apr 2012, 23:18 pm
559 SL yes exactly and about the lock
20 Apr 2012, 23:18 pm
@IAAS(I am a stormer)-560: i agree its a very good trio mate, my concern is Alberts is not fully over his injury, thus the missed tackles stats re him, we all know what he is capable of ,
20 Apr 2012, 23:20 pm
The Stormers should seriously push on next week for that five pointer.Bonus points might be crucial at the end of the day if we want to end on top of the pile.Chiefs and Crusaders only serious candidates to stop us in that regard.
20 Apr 2012, 23:20 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-558: its schmucks the likes of you and this cabcnt who think they are so advanced and mature.. meanwhile you still a baby in a pram if you seriously wanna consider how Old and mature you dumbfck idiots like to think you are… you are a wee little kindergarten baby in life you dumbfck schmuckarse.. problem is you still haven’t realize it yet… carry on with giggling like a fckng two year old about biltong and braaivleis en hoender wat so smaaklik is dit stink..
20 Apr 2012, 23:21 pm
Also those always trashing JW?? well if my eyes aint deceiving me?? aint the Brumbies on top of the Aussie section???
And in a short space of time he is making them a force again, yes i think Bulls will whip them tomorrow , but that Brumbies team will get better and better as the self belief comes through
20 Apr 2012, 23:22 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-567: I REST MY CASE
20 Apr 2012, 23:23 pm
Vermeulen at 8
Elstadt / Coetsee / Kolisi 7
Brussow 6
Alberts / Spies to fight it out for the bench spot depending on whether you looking for speed or power off bench.
20 Apr 2012, 23:23 pm
Cabby im off mate , chat tomorrow , good night everyone
20 Apr 2012, 23:24 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-569: which case you resting schmuckaroo.. try italics with the bold font.. it may rest your case even further what a dumb barbarian carnivore you actually are…
20 Apr 2012, 23:26 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-565: Expect Alberts to continue on his great form….of missing tackles.He is the most overrated player in super rugby and the stats prove it.
20 Apr 2012, 23:29 pm
Ho ho ho ashatapoopoo – such a jovial fella and fkn humble too.
Ok so now if u got a problem with frying the hoender – what about the hoenders eiers? Is it ok for an immature non-Hunan, unlike your vainglorious self, too eat tge hoenders eiers (not the balls I gave that up for lent)?
20 Apr 2012, 23:29 pm
@Sharks_Lover. I am afraid that I have only managed to catch one Sharks match so far which was last week’s loss. I didn’t like what I saw from most of the players, back and forwards. Good luck for tomorrow. I have a feeling the Chiefs will take it but will loved to be proven wrong.
I cannot offer an opinion on Coetzee; one piss-poor match doesn’t a player make or break imo. I’m not going to have the opportunity to watch tomorrow’s match either which is a shame.
Essentially, I left him out because I have nothing on which to base my view on either way.
I prefer Kolisi to Stander ’cause Stander is a true 7 – a makeshift 6 filling in – whereas Kolisi plays the Stormers’ role of 6 to perfection. Yes people can find fault with this argument but it’s my view and I’m sticking to it; it is not about a like-for-like Brussouw replacement imo, which makes K’s question redundant. It’s about what fits the team dynamic best.
20 Apr 2012, 23:30 pm
@stormerforlife1(stormerforlife1)-573: The poor guy has Plum as a coach. What do you expect.
20 Apr 2012, 23:30 pm
Night Sharks Lover, good luck to the sharks.
20 Apr 2012, 23:32 pm
these arseholes try their luck giggling at some stupefied joke about gobbling like a turkey burnt to a cinder on the braai.. and they come off second best.. then they turn tail and run duck for cover when they find out the f’ing joke is actually on THEM
Jake White little charade gonna burst just like it did in 2006 … useless is as useless does.. watch his quick new broom sweep clean charade at Brumbies come tumbling down into dust just like it did till Eddy the rattle snake turned his fck’d up fortunes around..
20 Apr 2012, 23:34 pm
I’m not talking turkey, I’m talking hoender
20 Apr 2012, 23:34 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-570:
Skop, just check your post #547. I was about to compliment you on the loose trio. Same as mine.
Now you’ve just dropped Alberts to the bench! What’s happening?
20 Apr 2012, 23:35 pm
hoenders eiers are a no no just like human eiers they were originally destined to become hoenders or humans depending which eier you wanna chow… only rattle snakes and lizards eat eiers.. no other creature.. except human beings..
20 Apr 2012, 23:37 pm
U a fk up of note, duped by all the dogma, fkn eiers I ask u? U must learn to think for yourself, open your eyes, even better open your mind.
20 Apr 2012, 23:39 pm
@IAAS(I am a stormer)-580: Vermeulen and Alberts in same trio is too much sameness not enough balance.. need some agility and speed along with the power game.. which would ideally come from Coetsee or Kolisi .. and with either Alberts or Spies off bench depending you want power or speed off bench.. Elstatd is also more power and clean out aggression and less agility.. so one has to balance up what you aiming at against a particular opponent.. power or speed or a balance of both…
20 Apr 2012, 23:40 pm
Human eiers WTF kind of **** u talking.
20 Apr 2012, 23:42 pm
@cab(cab)-582: you dunno fckall about nothing you baby arsed moron.. life to you is one closed off sealed up box.. you call yourself a scientist.. you are NOTHING of the sort.. you dunno science from tiddlywinky in the laboratory.. all you know is mathematical fcking hoaxes.. but science you dunno from fckall.. same as you dunno what life is about from nothing you dumb stupefied idiotic moronic dead ended closed minded moron of note…
20 Apr 2012, 23:45 pm
I know tiddlywinks – WTF is a mathematical hoax? Christus only think u know about mathematics is how many bricks in the wall ekse..
20 Apr 2012, 23:45 pm
Another one-eyed priek this stormerforlife. No objectivity, no humility
20 Apr 2012, 23:48 pm
@Kleuter(Kleuter)-587:
Think it’s a new kid on the block.
20 Apr 2012, 23:52 pm
bricks and mathematics amount to same bullshit.. they just building blocks to house concepts and ideas or protect and shelter people from nature..
step out your closed little dumbfck world of materialist make believe and find out wtf life is actually about… I doubt you have the courage to do that you cling so tight to your umbilical chord called mathematics or pseudo science..
you the kind of closed minded dunce that needs a stiff cap of California sunshine to open up your emaciated dead end closed minded eyesight… else a visit to a monastical institution where the monks can clean out that fck’d up dead end brain and feed you a dose of LIFE… goddamn..
20 Apr 2012, 23:55 pm
I thought life was about eating the hoender and turkey if u lucky with some sous.
How the fk does an anti-abortionist preach about tolerance and openmindedness – u watchatutus are so caught up in retrograde dogma that u positively stoneage backward.
20 Apr 2012, 23:59 pm
Ag please give me your California sunshine – I pop it like a smartie – and that old Jedi mindfk u newagers always doing has left your dmfkop positively numb – think man think – use your own goddamn powers of godgiven reason goddamn
21 Apr 2012, 00:01 am
wtf abortion got to do with tolerance and open mindedness.. you wanna bring political wrangling about whatever to accept abortion as a humane concept of life or what you aiming at?? abortion .. like eating eggs is killing life… one or two stages of a higher degree of killing than the other.. but killing it is… whether dumbfck moronic closed minded idiots the likes of these pseudo fck’d up hopeless case schmuckarse scientists wanna accept the FACT of it or NOT..!
21 Apr 2012, 00:04 am
Yip so u anti-abortion and yet your piep like a loose cannon on the ooenrange – u got some dmfk confused fkn rules that u just blindly obey -damn fool don’t wanna think for one second, just obey.
21 Apr 2012, 00:05 am
@Kleuter(Kleuter)-587: You are the prick here buddy…you and the rest of your Bull mates who absolutely believe in your own self-worth.You pricks better prepare for three losses in Australasia.
21 Apr 2012, 00:05 am
big fckng brave arse scientist… go to the merchant and get yourself a cap of sunshine and go pop it.. you’ll pop your brain to smithereens and you pathetic little moron won’t know wtf you are or wtf you been or wtf you going to .. poor imbecilic little brave cn’t moron who pretend he wanna know the reality of what life actually IS.. but then again he too f’ng chicken to find out..
I don’t recommend you pop some A you will fck yourself to hell.. you won’t handle the situation at ALL and you could actually do your pathetic closed minded imbecilic pseudo arse brain some damage…
21 Apr 2012, 00:13 am
U talking about acid – is that what this is all about – u a complete toolman that’s been done as a teeny bopper on the rand and more – nothing to it – I asked for seconds – I thought u talking about some special herb that u smoke which explains why u got no brains left and why u away with the fairies – no wonder u live in nevernwverland – how tge fk u actually think u going to find anything out about reality by taking a chemical whose sole purpose is too escape and distort reality? Huh ?
21 Apr 2012, 00:13 am
I thunk the entire caboodle of razzmatazz idiocy through the center of the bulls eye LONG AGO….. you dumb fck little know nothing nobody.. you dunno fckall about your so called ‘independent’ little dumb fck ignorant conditioned brain.. you think you know so much when you actually know so LITTLE….
you think you can ‘think’ your way to knowledge or understanding.. your thought processes are CLOSED.. your mind is SHUT… you have no eyes to SEE… your ears are stopped up and deaf….
you have NO wherewithal to know about LIFE yet you THINK your mathematical equations can give you the answers to THAT…
You are a fcking MORON without a clue in the world about who the fck you actually ARE.. and you come here and lecture someone on being able to THINK straight when you cannot ‘THINK’ at ALL.. you f’ing imbecile.. you dunno the beginning of WHO is WHO and WHAT is WHAT you dumb fck ignoramus moron pseudo scientific idiot DUNCE deluxe..
21 Apr 2012, 00:18 am
WTF u got mathematics on the noodle for tonight? You planning on doing some lecturing in that too?
21 Apr 2012, 00:18 am
A is not what its about.. closed minded conditioned materialist idiocy is detrimental to understanding anything about life.. thats what its about..!!
you need a far better clear sighted education than the dumb fck dead end street you been careering down without a clue in the woprld about who the fck you are or wtf life is actually ABOUT .
21 Apr 2012, 00:19 am
Ag more woo-woo bluster from the big fkn hero
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