Steyn slays Stormers
22 Feb 2013
Morne Steyn kicked the Bulls to a winning Super Rugby start as the hosts easily beat the Stormers.
The Bulls won 25-17 after leading 9-0 at half time.
A Loftus crowd of 44 272 watched the opening match to the South African season.
The match was poor in quality with both teams a mess in the line outs and ineffective on attack among the backs.
Defence was good and the physicality was, as always, prominent, but neither side threatened with ball in hand. The backs on both sides moved it too lateral and this was a match won in the trenches by the more dominant and composed pack.
The Bulls at scrum and in the collisions were the stronger and superior team, especially in the first 40 minutes. The go forward and momentum was with the Bulls for the majority of the match and despite a brief rally from the Stormers after half time the visitors offered little.
Stormers captain Jean de Villiers admitted afterwards the better team on the night had won and that the Stormers had been forced into too many mistakes.
Steyn, man of the match, kicked seven from seven, and impressed with a composed and mature tactical kicking game. Steyn, with his forwards in charge, controlled the game and the Bulls played the match in the right areas of the field.
There was very little flow to the game and it wasn’t helped because of periods in which there were uncontested scrums. This favoured the Stormers whose pack took a beating.
Elton Jantjies suffered in his debut for the Stormers and one felt for the young Bok flyhalf, who suffered the tragic loss of his father less than a month ago. Jantjies is an outstanding goal kicker with a Super Rugby career average of 80 percent, but his radar never functioned and he missed four successive penalty kicks. Joe Petersen was introduced for Gio Aplon and kicked all three efforts, but the match was one influenced by the Bulls forward effort and sealed by Steyn’s flawless goal kicking.
Steyn and Pierre Spies excelled for the hosts, and predictably Victor Matfield’s planning in combating Andries Bekker and the Stormers line out paid dividend. It was also aided by Deon Fourie’s experiencing a night at hooker the equal of Jantjies’s goal kicking.
Jean de Villiers was a strong presence for the Stormers and Bryan Habana’s night did not lack for effort. Siya Kolisi was the best of the Stormers loose-forwards but with the Bulls, as a unit, the more cohesive and impressive up front, Steyn was good enough to slay the Stormers.
By Mark Keohane
613 Comments
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22 Feb 2013, 21:57 pm
@Tuna-245: Deon gave away a few penalties tonight.
22 Feb 2013, 21:58 pm
@Xkreni-WP-225: No wonder they want to move to the stadium in Green point.
22 Feb 2013, 21:59 pm
@Sharks_are_gonna_get_you-251: That’s the only time when you see him in the game. How they let CJ Stander go is beyond stupid. Arno Botha is a machine..
22 Feb 2013, 22:02 pm
@skopdiekan-242:
> The line outs lost on own throw were about even Bulls and Stormers both lost own line outs
Early season jitters and rust, will improve with time
It’s a shame both teams didn’t start against the Force and Kings to iron out the bugs
> Giving Jantjes the 10 jersey and persisting with a weak link for a full 60 minutes stuffed Stormers
Jean should have given the kicking duties to Pietersen after the second miss, he didn’t need the extra pressure for his first game and Pietersen is a very good kicker
22 Feb 2013, 22:03 pm
@Tuna-253: Agreed, CJ is a huge loss for them
22 Feb 2013, 22:05 pm
Jaco Peyper, a qualified barrister demonstrated his elegant style of swindling results, his refereeing was worth the Stormers about 10 points but he did it in such elegant manner: turned blind eye on the Stormers’ infringement while with possession, penalising the Bulls where he should in fact have penalised the Stormers
The try was iffy, wasn’t there a knock of the ball behind the scrum? Peyper had a view look at it from his position.
Stars of the day: Kirchner, Mapoe, Aplon, Habana and Kolis who faked/missed tackles like there was no tomorrow
22 Feb 2013, 22:08 pm
Well called, Keo! I presume you also switched to the vegetarian steroids that Oscar is using. Just kidding. Your game analysis was spot on.
22 Feb 2013, 22:08 pm
@victoriabok-254:
Pietersen wasn’t even on the field until the 50th minute
22 Feb 2013, 22:09 pm
Shurrup hondo
22 Feb 2013, 22:09 pm
Well done Bulls. Just returned from Loftus. Bottom line is they deserved the win. You can’t put your kicks over then you deserve to lose. Had a lot of fun and had a few beers with a regular blogger here… Good start for the Bulls…
22 Feb 2013, 22:13 pm
@RL-222: Try fitz1ella?
22 Feb 2013, 22:15 pm
here is my summation of the bulls players out of ten
kirchener-solid 7/10
mapoe-had a reasonable 1st game for bulls-6/10
jj cant comment injured
sub venter poor for bekkers try 6/10
olivier-good game on his return-8/10
basson-solid-7/10
steyn-good game-8/10
hougaard just above average-6/10
spies-also good game on his return bossed vermeulen-8/10
potgeiter-above average-7/10
steggman-just above average-6/10
kruger-good solid game-7/10
flip-as kruger-7/10
w krugerup until he got injured average5/10
rallepele good game 7/1o
mellet-in his first super rugby game a really good game-9/10
and that is my ratings.
22 Feb 2013, 22:15 pm
Let’s hope its just a early competition jitters. Two more tough games coming up!
22 Feb 2013, 22:16 pm
Jantjes’ diabolical performance was poetic justice. Last year he threw the semi-final to get WP in the final in order to secure his Stormers’ contract. Today he had to prove his mettle but without Uncle Carlos to motivate him, he fell to pieces.
22 Feb 2013, 22:17 pm
@Robzim-244:
Dankie man, die jong ouens het dit nodig gehad
> And you are right about Jantjes… he has shown in the past that he is a 80% kicker and there is no reason that he will not reach that standard again.
He’s a good player, just needs to settle in a new team, give the kicking duties to someone else
Our front row was impressive, I was worried about suffering in the scrums beforehand but the new guy played well
We missed the Potgieters, both Dewald and Jacques, in the loose to go over the line
22 Feb 2013, 22:18 pm
@Hondo-258:
That’s what happens if your watching rugby at work at 09:00 in the morning
22 Feb 2013, 22:19 pm
I never thought that the Stormers would miss Etsebeth as much as they did. Forwards struggled to get over the advantage line.
22 Feb 2013, 22:21 pm
The Bulls should change their gameplan for NZ teams. Those field kicks and bombs will play right into their hands.
22 Feb 2013, 22:22 pm
@Gumboots-260:
We lost the game at Newlands last year because Morne couldn’t kick the penalties, it happens
JdV should have stepped in earlier
22 Feb 2013, 22:22 pm
#256 Hondo I never like slagging refs,but i have to agree with you on this one, he really made some wierd decisions against the bulls,even the commentators were a bit confused by his whistling.
22 Feb 2013, 22:26 pm
@victoriabok-269:
For sure mate… The Bulls deserved the win – no doubt…
22 Feb 2013, 22:30 pm
RAHHH!!!ba dub dub
three Stormers in a tub
Rusty, yet satisfying, hey Stormersboy and Rage-o-matic?
Arno Botha should start as the regular, and Kirchner needs to be sold to a circus.
22 Feb 2013, 22:31 pm
Jantjes has always been an overrated fly half and the swagger he walks with belies his ability. He will never get Stormers backline going he fckd up a good few games for Lions last year when he wasn’t in mourning. Lions were a far better outfit with Butch at 10 than with Jantjes at 10.
Anyone thinking they rather have Jantjes at 10 ahead Ogden Grant or Duvenhage or Pietersen or
22 Feb 2013, 22:33 pm
@Gumboots-271:
We needed it more that they did
They’re the favourites to win it this year as well as the Sharks, we need to settle our young players for next years
We have found a better prop than Greyling, we missed his fire and abrasiveness in the loose though
We need a lock with more fire than Juandre, he’s a powder puff, he reminds me of the milquetoast guys I work with
Hougie played good, he’s playing better than last year
22 Feb 2013, 22:37 pm
Hey guys, what do you make of the cartridge cases found on the scene in the Pistorius case?
1 in the passage, 3 in the bathroom.
The passage make’s an L-shape into the bathroom, the toilet is in the corner, 1.4m inwards perpedicular to the main passage.
I’m willing to bet that the bullet that missed Reeva hit the left-side wall of the toilet.
She was found hit with the remaining 3 shot on her rightside as she cowered down, because Oscar walked a few paces into the bathroom to be able to get a better angle INTO the toilet room, that he couldn’t from the passage, so that he was sure to hit the occupant.
So I bet the first round missed, and Reeva started to scream, and then he moved forward and to the right so that he could shoot around the corner to his left. Seems unlikely that he would feel threatened and do that.
22 Feb 2013, 22:38 pm
Sorry, I haven’t been on here for a while, do we have a no-speculation policy here?
22 Feb 2013, 22:39 pm
Anyone thinking they rather have Jantjes ahead of Grant or Duvenhage or Schroeder or Pietersen or Van Aswegen and rather have one of the other hookers ahead of Fourie got no clue about this game.
Stormers problems are simple to fix buying Jantjes was going in exactly the opposite direction to fixing them. And dropping Fourie out of hooker is not seeking the simple solution either.
22 Feb 2013, 22:39 pm
The Andries Bekker try reminded me of the consolation try the Stormers scored in the Soweto final, after the game was already in the bag for the Bulls.
In fact, wasn’t that scoreline almost identical to today’s?
22 Feb 2013, 22:40 pm
If Fourier, cilliers, elsstadt, etsebeth, kolisi and vereulennin same pack – bulls won’t get close but I dunno who was selected.
22 Feb 2013, 22:40 pm
@Anairetes agilis-275:
Have you ever seen how far an ejected case travels at a shooting range?
Imagine the same case bouncing off walls and tiled floors
22 Feb 2013, 22:42 pm
@skopdiekan-277: 3 games into the season and peashooter Grant will also be kak again?
@cab-279: What??!
22 Feb 2013, 22:43 pm
@Anairetes agilis-275: @Tuna-281: This really the place for that kak? Didn’t you get enough during the day? Wait till June and then wait some more…
22 Feb 2013, 22:44 pm
@cab-279:
Well, of those Fourie, Cilliers, Elstadt, Kolisi and Vermeulen were all in the “same pack” today.
Just Etsebeth was missing. And the Bulls did more than get close. They dominated the physical contest today. I was very impressed, and I’ve been pretty skeptical about where the Bulls are in their development process at the moment.
The Stormers will be better next week, no doubt. But still not good enough to beat the Sharks in Durban. So that will be two losses out of two for the men from Cape Town. Not sure who they face in round 3.
22 Feb 2013, 22:44 pm
275 AT&T
Cold blooded merciless murderous killer Oscar Pistorious. In a real system of equal justice for equal desperate deadly deed he should hang at the gallows tomorrow.
22 Feb 2013, 22:45 pm
281 tuna – stormers pack too good if they pick right. – but sounds like etsebeth and kolisi and elsstadt out – put elsstadt and etsebeth into lock and the team transforms overnight
22 Feb 2013, 22:46 pm
@skopdiekan-277:
> Anyone thinking they rather have Jantjes ahead of Grant
He’ll settle and give you the bonus points needed for a home final
You’ve tried the Grant option and it’s not working, time for a new flyhalf
Remember how long Habana took to settle?
22 Feb 2013, 22:46 pm
@victoriabok-280:
Yeah, but in that scenario it seems pretty confined. around the corner, we’ll have to wait for ballistics, but it seems that he got closer to fire off the last 3 rounds “around” the corner of the toilet with a better angle.
If he was closer, he could shoot at the previous angle, but being further gave him a smaller angle, so most like hitting further back the left-side wall of the WC.
So Im better one bullet wont match where the other 3 went, if they are able to puzzle it back together.
It’s not just the cases, it just makes me think that a man who feels threatened, fires one shot, walks on his stompies a few paces further and fires three more. That looks a lot less like defense.
22 Feb 2013, 22:47 pm
@Anairetes agilis-287:
Botha could have kicked it walking around in the house
22 Feb 2013, 22:47 pm
@Tuna-282:
Sorry, I didn’t get any at all.
I didn’t read the comments.
22 Feb 2013, 22:48 pm
@cab-285: Elstadt and Kollisi was there. They were not on par. I’ll give Kollisi the benefit of the doubt becuase of his long lay off. As for Elstadt once dubbed the “Bakkies killer” on here…. he was no where.
22 Feb 2013, 22:48 pm
@victoriabok-288:
I doubt it, they take photos as they find it, even if he is incompetent, he is unlikely to screw that up.
22 Feb 2013, 22:49 pm
283 Tacitus – well then I’m slightly amazed.
Etsebeth and elsstadt should be paired together tho – the current locking combo is ultra-kak for a barney with the bulls.
22 Feb 2013, 22:49 pm
@Anairetes agilis-287:
Hell no. If you really feel threatened, if you REALLY believe there’s a guy with a gun about to shoot back at you, then you aren’t going to stop with one shot. This idea that you pop off one speculative round and that this will somehow make the bad guy immediately disappear in a puff of smoke, that’s nonsense.
22 Feb 2013, 22:50 pm
@Anairetes agilis-287:
If your life’s not threatened you have no right to fire, and you can’t see through a door
If an attacker chased you in your house and you ran inside the bedroom or bathroom and he tried to break down the door it’s another story because the threat has been established
22 Feb 2013, 22:51 pm
Etsebeth is injured. Out another 5 or 6 weeks.
Bekker and Steenkamp were at lock
Kitschoff Fourie Cilliers front row was overpowered by Bulls but possibly the lack of power was transferred from 2nd row.
Back row of Vermeulen Elstadt and Kolisi was better than Bulls back row. But Elstadt should perhaps go back to 4 and Carr to 6 Kolisi 7 Vermeulen 8.
Bench Steenkamp Armand or Rhodes.
22 Feb 2013, 22:52 pm
@cab-292:
Yeah, so am I. What surprised me the most were the Bulls two young props. Amazing performance by Mellet and Kirsten.
But the Bulls pack in general just had the much vaunted Stormers Boks on the back foot for most of the game – excluding the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half, when the Stormers launched a spirited fight back, which then led the Bulls to raise their game to a higher level for the next 20 minutes after that.
22 Feb 2013, 22:53 pm
@cab-292:
Till your hooker can find his locks in the lineout, you can have Bekker, Etzebeth, Victor and Bakkies in your team and you still won’t get any linout ball.
Deon’s throw ins was poor
Again it’s early in the season
22 Feb 2013, 22:53 pm
@cab-292: I tell you what. Forget about Bekker… fck give him the no 14 jersey because that’s his position choice. Let Elsadt and Rhodes pack in the second row. Your scrum will do much better. The tooth pick is the weak link and the blame went sole onto poor Brok’s shoulders. Bekker is kak.. finish and klaar.
22 Feb 2013, 22:53 pm
@victoriabok-294:
Indeed. Firing indiscrimately through a closed door, without certain knowledge of a guy with a gun about to fire back, is a pretty stupid thing to do. He will almost certainly be found guilty of something.
But that’s still a far cry from deliberately murdering an innocent woman.
22 Feb 2013, 22:54 pm
@Anairetes agilis-287:
You must send your theory to Vinesh Moonoo , hopefully he can sort out the mess.
I wonder whether the magistrate has been fair in his criticism of Hilton Botha…. maybe the poor bloke just did not have enough time to follow everything up and to double check everything.
It’s been a rush to get the bail application done … somehow i think it was to the disadvantage of the state?
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