Awesome Stormers make history
Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:46
Two try hero: Tonderai Chavanga
The Stormers completed a hugely successful overseas leg of the Super 14 courtesy of a comprehensive 32-16 victory over the Western Force in Perth on Friday.
Jean de Villiers' men bagged all five points and became the first Stormers team in the history of Super Rugby to win three games in Australasia - and in the process notched up 16 points from their four games on the road.
The Stormers had a dream start to end their highly successful Australasian tour and it justified the faith Robbie Deans had in them.
Robbie Deans? After the Crusaders had beaten the Stormers 22-0 at Newlands, their third successive Super 14 defeat in 2008, there was gloom and despair at Newlands, and muttered gloom and despair in the press conference after the match. Deans said that he could not understand this at all for he felt the Stormers were a good team. Then he said prophetically: "They will win a lot of matches."
Back they come from Australasia with three wins and a last-minute penalty defeat in Auckland. 16 points from four matches. And they were much the better said on a warm evening in Perth when they missed three eminently kickable penalty kicks at goal and a conversion.
They were better than the lethargic Force. The Stormers, handled better, scrummed better, did their line-outs better, chased kicks better and won the turnovers. It is no surprise that they won. It is not a surprise that they won.
Perhaps it was the start that knocked the Force out of their stride. Notoriously slow starters they did not even have time to be slow. They did not start.
Matt Giteau kicked off for the Force and Ross Skeate rose high into the night sky to catch it. The Stormers moved it quickly many metres up the field. Schalk Burger broke off and the ball came back quickly to Peter Grant who was flat and running at the Force. Again the ball came back quickly to fullback Conrad Jantjes out on the left wing. He grubbered hard downfield and off Tonderai Chavhanga raced, leaving behind Force defenders who looked like strollers. The bounce was kind and Chavhanga scored. The match was then 48 seconds old. 48 seconds! Grant converted.
They had another chance going right when they created an overlap for Chavhanga but Gcobani Bobo knocked on a straightforward pass.
The Force then had their best period of the whole match. They bashed at the line and the Stormers' defence was under severe pressure. A short clearance gave the home side a line-out on the 22 on their right. They went left with Giteau handling twice on a runaround and cutting ahead before sending Drew Mitchell for the corner. Sireli Naqelevuki shoved at Mitchell who bounced into touch-in-goal but not before, miraculously, he managed to ground the ball.
Burger was penalised for a high tackle and admonished. (When Tony Brown tackled high later in the match there was no admonition. Perhaps Burger is, as many believe, a marked man.) Giteau goaled the penalty and the Force led 8-7 after 18 minutes which did not seem fair to the more creative, more cohesive Stormers.
The Stormers were soon back. Jantjes kicked a high torpedo down into Force territory where Scott Fava misjudged the flight of the ball and knocked on as he lunged for it. That produced a scrum to the Stormers on their right. They went left and Grant broke clean through on the inside of Giteau and could easily have scored himself, but the practice-ground move required him to pass Chavhanga on his left, which he did and the wing raced over for his second try, this time at the posts. Grant converted. 14-8.
The Force did not look like winning after this.
The third tackle/ruck free kick against the Stormers, which came after three tackle/ruck free kicks against the Force, produced a warning. The next one was against Jean de Villiers and the penalty was duly awarded, which Giteau missed. The one after that was against Burger and he was sent to the sin bin. This time Giteau goaled to make the score 17-11 after 37 minutes.
The Stormers had a great chance to score when Bobo was ahead in chasing a ball flykicked into the Force in-goal. He was held back by Ryan Cross who then batted the ball over the dead-ball line. He was penalised for the latter infringement and Grant made the score 20-11 and half-time happened.
In the second half Grant missed a kick at goal and then Burger came back. His absence, felt of course, had not put undue stress on the Stormers. Grant missed another two kicks at goal, the second when Drew Mitchell was penalised for dissent.
Burger countered and chipped and the Force attacked. Their attack proved a disaster for them. The went left and Lachlan MacKay passed to Cross just outside the Stormers' 22. The ball did not reach Cross, for De Villiers stepped forward, juggled the ball and then ran unimpeded and in leisurely fashion to the Force posts. Grant converted. 27-11 with 15 minutes to play.
This second half in truth belonged to the Stormers as the Force did not look like scoring till the match was done and dusted.
The bonus-point try for the Stormers started with a strong break by De Villiers, slightly to the left of the posts. The ball went wide to the right where Chavhanga darted in and was close to the line where Brok Harris picked up and plunged the short distance for a try which delighted him - and all the Stormers. Tony Brown missed the conversion. 32-11 with 10 minutes to play.
Just before the end the Force went through many phases with MacKay prominent and eventually Cross burst through De Villiers's tackle to score the try. The final whistle followed the conversion attempt.
Man of the Match: Schalk Burger would be a candidate but for his indiscretion. Jean de Villiers would be a candidate and so would Conrad Jantjes, Peter Grant and Ross Skeate and Andries Bekker and Luke Watson for his work at the tackle but we are going to give the accolade to two-try Tonderai Chavhanga whose work rate is exemplary, proving again that he is really a rugby player, not just an athlete.
Moment of the Match: The opening 48 seconds, from Ross Skeate's catch to Tonderai Chavhanga's try.
Villain of the Match: Technically it is Schalk Burger for his yellow card but greater equity could have prevented that. It was a match without malice. There were no villains.
The scorers:
For the Force:
Tries: Mitchell, Cross
Pens: Giteau 2
For the Stormers:
Tries: Chavhanga 2, De Villiers, Harris
Cons: Grant 3
Pens: Grant 2
Teams:
Western Force: 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Scott Staniforth, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Scott Daruda, 11
Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau (vice-captain), 9 Chris O'Young, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Fava, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4 Tom Hockings, 3 AJ Whalley, 2 Tai McIsaac, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Luke Holmes, 17 Troy Takiari, 18 Sam Wykes, 19 Tamaiti Horua, 20 James Stannard, 21 Lachlan MacKay, 22 Nick Cummins.
Stormers: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Tonderai Chavhanga, 13 Gcobani Bobo, 12 Jean De Villiers (captain), 11 Sireli Naqelevuki, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Luke Watson, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Ross Skeate, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 JD Moller.
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Adriaan Fondse, 19 Robbie Diack, 20 Conrad Hoffmann, 21 Gio Aplon, 22 Tony Brown.
Referee: Lyndon Bray (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Vinny Munro (New Zealand), Geoff Acton (Australia)
Television match
official: Steve Leszczynski (Australia)
Assessor: Brendan McCormick (Australia)
