Stormers blanked by super 'Saders
Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:36
Big hit: Crusader Mose Tuiali\'i on the charge
The Crusaders continued their splendid run of form in the Super 14 with a thoroughly professional 22-0 beating of the Stormers at Newlands in Cape Town.
The Stormers suffered a setback even before the first whistle, when the flu-ridden Luke Watson was ruled out of this match at a very late stage. Robbie Diack slotted into the number eight jersey in Watson's absence.
The Crusdares lost wing Kade Poki when he did a hamstring in the warm-up. Young Sean Maitland took his place with Hamish Gard coming onto the bench.
It was fast and furious at Newlands on Friday night - late on Friday night. The match kicked off at half past eight at night, a Friday night. But it proved the pro-p[h4ets of doom all wrong. They said nobody would come. They ere wrong 43 724 people turned up and they were in fine form with a buzz around the game before the start and a rambunctious welcome to the Stormers when they ran out onto the field.
The prophets of doom also said that you can't expect players to suffer through a summer's day and then play proper rugby in that stuffy stadium.
Play they did, a match of great speed and intensity.
Prophetic voices also said that the Crusaders would wipe the floor with the Stormers. Win they did and richly deserved to do so. Wipe the floor they did not.
Rugby is about attack and defence Win one of those facets and you are on the way to success. Both sides defended with determination and efficiency. The difference came in attack. The Crusaders were much better on attack.
With the ball they were always able to go forward. If they had it in hand they carried it forward. If they booted it, they won the battle of the boot. In other words they were the wiser, more direct side. Not the more spirited.
The Stormers have now played against the teams which finished first, second and third in 2008, and they have conceded only three tries. Their defence is excellent which tells the tale of spirit. But they have scored just one try in three matches.
They were close on one occasion today when they turned certain penalty opportunities into line-outs in their search of points, foiled by an early tackle, a collapsed maul and a tackle infringement - all near the Crusaders' line, all within a short space of time, none earning a yellow card, none earning a more than a gentle suggestion to be careful about infringements in the "red zone" after the second penalty. People have gone to the sin bin for less.
So the Stormers could have broken their duck but, bless them, they wanted more than just points. They wanted to score a try and the uplift that goes with doing so.
The \Crusaders certainly play with confidence and well they should. So far they have smashed the Brumbies, scoring four tries to nil, and the Bulls, scoring seven tries to one. Their confidence was sky high. That the Stormers limited them to two tries was a plus, and after the match Robbie Deans praised the Stormers for their resilience. "They kept coming at us."
The Crusaders' confidence sets them running free. They seem to love running. They run with the ball and after the ball with a freshness which belied Richie McCaw's contention that "the guys have been through a tough game".
But the Crusaders were not all glamour. The foundation was laid by their forewards.Rassie Erasmus said afterwards: "We never had front-foot ball.They are a team that knows how to suffocate and strangle. They just keep giving you scrappy ball."
The Stormers this year had scrummed well. The Crusaders outscrummed them. The Stormers' line-out had been solid. The Crusaders disrupted them. Oddly the Stormers may well have done better at the tackles, McCaw notwithstanding.
The Stormers started each half fizzing but the fizz flattened out early in the first half. It did not quite go flat in the second half.
The Crusaders scored first when Peter Grant tackled high and was penalised in front of his posts. 3-0 after 14 minutes.
The Crusaders then played the width of the field as they do so well. They went to the extreme left and then came back right. McCaw cut in on a dummy run and they played wide till Corey Flynn was going down the right touch-line for the corner but his pass inside was too forward for a try to be scored.
From then on the Stormers were under the cosh and the game became one-way traffic, but yielding only a single try.
A weakish clearance had the Crusaders attacking from a line-out as MoseTuiali'i charged at the line. The Crusaders battered and eventually Andrew Ellis sniped over in the right corner. 8-0.
Tonderai Chavhanga, who had a busier evening than usual, and Jean de Villiers did some attacking and then Tiaan Liebenberg charged. His charge shuddered to an end at a Crusader defensive wall and he lost the ball. That was an invitation to the Crusaders to attack and they may well have scored had Stephen Brett not cut infield.
Then Flynn knocked on when a try looked certain as they mixed up their game with well chased kicks, expansive passing and pick-'n-drive.
Despite their opportunities the Crusaders' only other score in the half was a penalty goal by Dan Carter when the Stormers were off-side. 11-0 at half-time.
The Stormers started running but soon lapsed into kicking, not realising that as you cannot eat5 your cake and have it, so you cannot kick the ball and have it.
When Campbell Johnstone charged down a clearing kick by Conrad Jantjes the Stormers were in trouble but Chavhanga cleared.
The Stormers were not the only ones to kick to ill effect. Casey Laulala had a great run down the right but kicked and the ball was marked. This sort of thin happened twice more in the half.
When Brian Mujati tackled high, Cater made it 14-0.
Carter made the Crusaders' other try. He started it with a scything break. Brad Thorn, who had a great game again, was stopped right at the line. The ball came back to Carter on the left and he kicked an exquisite diagonal the width of the field. All Sean Maitland had to do was catch the gently falling ball and drop to the ground for the try. 19-0 after 53 minutes.
After the Stormers had gone through numerous phases without gaining ground or points, Carter scored the last score of the match with a penalty. 22-0 after 60 minutes.
That was when the Stormers attacked the Crusaders' line, helped by lightly punished infringements.
Chavhanga had an electric run half the length of the field when it seemed he was dead at his own goal-line. Grant kicked a perfect diagonal for Gio Aplon, but the replacement, unlike Maitland, let the ball fall from his hands with a try inevitable.
The Stormers to their credit played to the very end.
The Crusaders leave on Monday for Perth. The Stormers leave at 06,.30 from Cape Town International on Saturday morning to fly via Johannesburg and Hong Kong to Brisbane. That's tough.
Man of the Match: Richie McCaw and Brad Thorn stood out in the dominant pack but the man who used the ball most effectively was scrumhalf Andrew Ellis, our Man of the match.
Moment of the Match: That delicious kick by Dan Carter that gave teenager Sean Maitland
Villain of the Match: Nobody but those three penalties in the "red zone" were close to villainy.
The scorers:
For the Stormers:
None
For the Crusaders:
Tries: Ellis, Maitland
Pens: Carter 4
The teams:
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 Robbie Diack, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Pieter
Myburgh, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 JD Moller.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Ross Skeate, 19 Deon Fourie, 20 Bolla Conradie, 21 Gio Aplon, 22 Dylan des Fountain.
Crusaders: 15 Leon MacDonald, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Stephen Brett, 11 Caleb Ralph, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Andrew Ellis, 8 Mose Tuiali'i, 7 Richard McCaw (captain), 6 Kieran Read, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Campbell Johnstone, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Greg Somerville, 18 Reuben Thorne, 19 Nasi Manu, 20 Kahn Fotuali'i, 21 Tim Bateman, 22 Hamish Gard.
Date: Friday, February 29
Venue: Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
Kick-off: 20.35 (18.35 GMT)
Referee: Matt Goddard (Australia)
Touch judges: Brett Bowden (Australia), Pro Legoete (South Africa)
Television match official: Johan Meuwesen (South Africa)
Assessor: Dennis Immelman (South Africa)
