Stormers finish first at fortress Newlands
14 Jul 2012
JON CARDINELLI watched the Stormers beat the Rebels 26-21 to secure top spot in the Super Rugby league.
The result guarantees the Stormers a home semi-final, as well as home advantage should they advance to the title-decider on 4 August. It also wraps up an undefeated league campaign at Newlands, the most recent win marking their eighth successive victory on this ground.
That it was an inconsistent and scrappy performance is not up for debate. The Stormers spent more than half of the game in their own territory, repelling wave after wave after Rebels attack.
It was during the second and third quarters of the match that the Stormers struggled to clear the ball beyond the halfway line. At the same time, it was during these periods of play that they showcased their determination on defence, with men like No 8 Deon Fourie turning the Rebels over at the breakdown.
The Rebels failed to score a point in the first half despite spending 24 minutes in Stormers territory. It took 11 minutes of hammering away at the Stormers’ defence in the second stanza before they finally earned some reward through Rodney Blake’s try.
The Stormers have struggled in the third quarter all season, giving away some big leads but somehow still managing to win the game. This clash was no different in that the Stormers leaked 14 points in the 20 minutes after half-time, Blake and Nick Phipps touching down for the visitors and Julian Huxley adding the extras.
The hosts finally managed to escape their own territory when Bryan Habana claimed a kickoff and set up a great attacking platform. The Stormers took the ball through the phases before Peter Grant found Juan de Jongh on the switch, and the centre managed to elude the cover defence for his second try of the game.
Grant’s conversion took the Stormers to a nine-point lead, but again the substantial buffer seemed to do more harm than good. The Rebels continued to come at the Stormers, and when the visitors found Cooper Vuna in space, the Wallabies winger scored to help narrow the deficit to just two points.
The only way the Stormers were capable of moving into the opposition’s half was via the kickoff. Once again, the Stormers responded to a Rebels strike with one of their own, a determined attacking surge culminating in a penalty goal for Grant. With only five minutes to play, it was a goal that gave the Stormers some breathing room.
But the Cape side finished in nervous fashion, and were fortunate that a Rebels knock on in the 22m area handed them possession with three minutes to play. From there, they managed to kill the clock, win the game, and secure safe passage to the semi-finals.
40 Comments
14 Jul 2012, 13:33 pm
Yo
14 Jul 2012, 13:36 pm
This match is sooooo predictable I don’t think I will bother setting my alarm.
14 Jul 2012, 13:42 pm
The Stormers are a victory away from an all-time regular season wins record in Super Rugby (14).
Dour. Boring. Predictable. Successful! Resurgent!
14 Jul 2012, 14:00 pm
Anyone know tries for and against for bulls sharks and brumbies, Sharks need to win by 5 points to avoid try count
14 Jul 2012, 14:08 pm
STOOOORMEEEEERS!!!
14 Jul 2012, 14:41 pm
Clear at newlands…
bekker looking very geed up.. getting gees going lekker lekker before game…
out till much later…
go stormers…
to the top of the log…
(please)
14 Jul 2012, 14:43 pm
Go Stormers go!Go Stormers go!
14 Jul 2012, 14:47 pm
has the game started yet?
14 Jul 2012, 15:00 pm
John Smit in the Sky studios.Saying nice things about the Stormers.
14 Jul 2012, 15:05 pm
@stormerforlife1(stormerforlife1)-9: Smit knows a thing or two about boring rugby.
14 Jul 2012, 15:07 pm
Stormers still battling to pass in front of the next player.
14 Jul 2012, 15:07 pm
@bangkok-bok(bangkok-bok)-8: Nobody can be certain …
14 Jul 2012, 16:58 pm
Stormers play rubbish rugby.
14 Jul 2012, 16:59 pm
quick question guys
assuming the final table looks like this:
1. stormers – 66
2. chiefs – 64
3 . reds – 58
4. crusaders – 61
5. bulls – 59
6. sharks – 59
who will play who in the 1st knockout and at which pitch? sorry if this sounds stupid but crusaders have more points so they must surely be playing the 6th place team
cheers
14 Jul 2012, 17:01 pm
It’s pretty tragic that this thread was closed to prevent people criticizing the Stormers for playing kak rugby.
14 Jul 2012, 17:03 pm
3plays 6, 4 plays 5
threads back open
classic
14 Jul 2012, 17:05 pm
Stormers will have to improve tenfold to stand any chance against the Crusaders. The Stormers cannot afford to defend for so long against a top quality side. Their subs which came on in the last twenty minutes didn’t convince much at all.
14 Jul 2012, 17:05 pm
Great to see Stormers topping the log, another opportunity for Crusaders to come and show their place.
14 Jul 2012, 17:22 pm
Well done to the Stormers for topping the log, who would pay to watch the poop they dish up though – awful rugby.
14 Jul 2012, 17:24 pm
Said all I wanted to say on other thread
14 Jul 2012, 17:47 pm
Next week thousands of toothless CapeCrusaders will be making their way to fortress Newlands in the hope of securing their tickets for the seme featuring the home team, the Crusaders against the visitors the Stormers.
14 Jul 2012, 18:54 pm
Jealousy running riot
14 Jul 2012, 19:42 pm
@Michael(mikeybrass)-22: On Stormers today’s performance?
14 Jul 2012, 21:08 pm
To have won so many matches means they’ve got something the other teams don’t. Steel I suppose.
As for today’s game I thought the Rebels played exceptionally well. When they’re trying they’re good,as was shown by their victory over the Crusaders.
As for the ‘stuttering’,please remember this wasn’t a full strength team,and they brought on reserves to save the energy of such as Becker. Also Etsebeth was sitting watching. Presumably he’ll add some oomph.
De Villiers had a stomach complaint and was well below par.
14 Jul 2012, 21:58 pm
i think this conference situation is a load of shite the reds have less points than the bulls or the sharks but they finish above them what kind of system is this,we all know this was done to make sure that the ozzies had a team in the play-offs.SARU should insist that the top four teams qualify for the semis like it used to be in the super14 it was much fairer than this **** system,if it is 4 ozzie teams or 4 kiwi teams or 4 sa teams in the semis so be it.
14 Jul 2012, 22:08 pm
@blueboy(blueboy)-25: Let me help you right there mate, It was SARU that insisted on this system, YES believe it or not it was to our own doing that we sit with this stupidity
14 Jul 2012, 22:15 pm
#26 sharks lover thank you for setting me straight on this for some reason i was not aware of SARU insisting this system.i knew that sanzar held talks on this,but i must have missed that bit about saru,what a real bunch of arseholes there is nothing else i can say.
14 Jul 2012, 22:30 pm
@blueboy(blueboy)-27: this was said to be the case by Tony Johnson on the Kiwi rugby program Reunion, he was like that was crazy
14 Jul 2012, 22:56 pm
Fortress Newlands indeed JC.No one,and I repeat,no one will defeat us at SA’S greatest stadium.
15 Jul 2012, 00:20 am
It wont be Fortress Newlands when the Crusaders come to town next week. Sad thing for Japie rugby fans is all your teams will lose in their first playoff match. This weekend it will be the Bulls and Sharks departing, then next week the Stormers will bow out. It probably would have been better to finish second and hope to meet the saders in the final rather than the semi.
15 Jul 2012, 00:55 am
Jon, why is the Stormers thread during the game often shutdown? It’s about the 4th time this season? Is it deliberate or a technical problem?
15 Jul 2012, 06:22 am
@blueboy(blueboy)-25:
It was SARU that insisted on a team being represented in the final by the republic every year…the outcome of this was the play off system with saru insisting again each conference winner has a home game play off.
Unfortunately this is not common knowledge with the supporters in the republic!
I dont like the system especially when the 3 and fourth place dont get home ground advantage due to position.
But having said that there has bern some un eveness in the weak conference i.e. bulls and stormers having to play the lions and cheetahs twice and getting 18-20 points from them. Look at the aussie conference. The top team lost a game to the bottom team.
15 Jul 2012, 06:26 am
@papashanga(papashanga)-24:
Save energy..for when?
Most of the stormers except 3 had a 3 week rest during the internationals…they then have a weeks break now. How much rest do they need!
In fact the stormers need more game time!
15 Jul 2012, 06:30 am
The stormers must cite their own 7 for foul play on aplon….he was trying to do a dirty on the rebels player but got his own player!
15 Jul 2012, 07:38 am
The Damn stormers made the Rebels look like a top half of the table team. They better win the thing this year because they’ve painted themselves into a corner with this season-long defensive play. If it doesn’t win them the title what will they do next year. Outscored 3 tries to 2 at home? Ridiculous. Close this thread again
15 Jul 2012, 07:44 am
lots of confusion about this… people quoting what they believe…
people quoting apples and proof for pears…
one of the NZ bloggers Chch or Cane or someone (apologies to the man just just recall or find the post now…) posted last week a link to wiki-superrugby where basically states it was aus and Nz that pushed for this play-off system…
according to wiki… (at least a neutral observer…) saru pushed for the conference system… but nz and aus pushed for the top six play-offs… each apparently compromised to get the best of their proposals accepted…
so basically all our boards and sanzar farked up…
15 Jul 2012, 07:45 am
Expansion to 15 teams
On May 19, 2009, following prolonged negotiations, SANZAR unveiled its model for an expanded season to start in 2011. This model was due to be presented to current broadcast rights holder News Corporation for approval before the end of June 2009. The new structure is based around the original ARU proposal for three national conferences, whereby each side would have played the other four teams from their own country twice and all of the other teams once, before a six team finals series. However, there were two major compromises that – while somewhat complicating the model – were designed to accommodate the wishes of all three countries. Firstly, each team would only play four of the five teams in each of the other two national conferences, meaning sixteen regular season games for each team. This ‘trimming’ of the model would allow for a late February start (somewhat placating the ARU and NZRU who wanted a March start), a three week gap for the June test matches (favoured by the SARU) and an early August finish so as not to overlap new streamlined versions of New Zealand and South Africa’s domestic competitions. Secondly, the three conference winners and the three best performed of the remaining teams would qualify for a three week finals series, with seedings deciding the match-ups. This system would be a hybrid of the conference-based qualification system favoured by the SARU and the ‘top six’ model favoured by the ARU and NZRU.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Rugby#Expansion_to_15_teams
15 Jul 2012, 10:27 am
Congrats Stormers on topping the log. Whether they scored tries or not, they played to win. And that is really what it is all about, winning your games. The very thing that has gotten them to the top, is winning more games than the rest. Well done, deserved to top the log.
15 Jul 2012, 12:49 pm
Cheers Puma…
And to the Sharks and Bulls… Sharks looking very hard to stop going al the way… Peaking at the right time for sure…
Bulls have a tougher assignment but not impossible if they bring their A game…
Said at the beginning of the season it would be great to get 3 teams into the play-offs… at the time I thought Bulls and Sharks would be there and maybe the Stormers could squeak in…
anyway… great for South African rugby that 3 teams have made it… lots of praise and hi^5s, air punches and backslaps all round…
the rugby tide is definitely shifting IMO…
Will support the Sharks and Bulls next weekend as if they were my team…
let’s see if we can get 3 teams into the semi’s…!!
16 Jul 2012, 01:17 am
And peple say AC is limited. Kiss my ar$e. Playing Fourie at 8 was a masterstroke. Wakker word, julle mense. AC is dobbeling like a genius with one hand tied behind his back. The best coach in Super 15. Bruine Nasie. WP.
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