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Habana scores in Stormers rout

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:57

Try machine: New Stormers wing Bryan Habana

New recruit Bryan Habana scored one of the Stormers' seven tries as they routed the Western Force 54-12 in a Super 14 pre-season outing at Newlands on Saturday.

It was hot at windless, midsummer Newlands. It was hot walking to the ground. It was hot sitting in the ground. Heaven know how hot it must have been playing in the stadium.

It was hardly surprising that the game, ended as a competition inside a quarter of an hour, petered out in the long-drawn out, stop-start second half - when the brightest moment was a heated exchange just before the end which saw veteran prop Matt Dunning and neophyte loose forward Jacques Potgieter sent from the field for fighting.

Dunning punched and Potgieter was carded for running in to attack Dunning. Both were replacements, both recent "acquisitions" for their teams.

The Western Force had most of their big-name players on the bench for most of the match, possibly to conserve them for Tuesday's match with the Sharks.

They even had a scrumhalf, teenager Mark Swanepoel, on the left wing and clearly all at sea - which suited the Stormers who scored their first three tries down his side of the field. He did get a brief spell at scrumhalf and celebrated the opportunity with a try. But it was probably an afternoon he would rather forget, which may well be the feelings, too, of fullback Dane Haylett-Petty.

The Force had more ball than the Stormers - more line-outs, more scrums and more penalties but the Stormers had too much speed for the visitors - speed on the outside and speed to the breakdown. They won the turnover count hands down, sometimes winning turnovers when the Force was close, sometimes to turn turnovers into tries, of which they scored seven.

Of concern to the home team must be their penalty count. They were penalised nine times at the tackle and three times at the scrum.

The organisation was slightly different. For the first half it seemed that both teams were playing identical outfits - jerseys with a lot of white and blue and some stripes and black shorts. This ridiculous problem was solved after half-time when the Stormers came out in different jerseys.

There were waterbreaks in each half, lots of substitutes used in the second half - 10 by each side. There was more of the feel of a match practice in the second half as the referee tried to help the players with explanations.

All of this, plus the one-sided scoreline, robbed the game of impetus.

Before the match the crowd of 18 000 was encouraged to welcome two new stars to the Stormers - Bryan Habana and Jaque Fourie.

It took the Stormers two minutes to start winning. The Force kicked off and the Stormers kicked out. The Stormers won the Force's line-out and Dewaldt Duvenhage lobbed a kick down the right. The ball bounced high and chasing Gio Aplon got the ball. It went left where Fourie threaded through a grubber which Haylett-Petty missed. Joe Pietersen ran passed him and scored. Pietersen converted. 7-0.

Hooker Tiaan Liebenberg, a great favourite at Newlands, burst down the right and chipped ahead. Haylett-Petty lost the ball which Duane Vermeulen picked up. Tackled the No.8 gave to tall Andries Bekker who ran over with a gesture of triumph and scored. 14-0 after 10 minutes. 

Mark Bartholomeusz kicked ahead. The Stormers fielded the ball and drove the maul downfield. They got quick ball and went right. Aplon beat two defenders and gave to Liebenberg who also signalled his triumph with a try which Pietersen converted from far out. 21-0 after 13 minutes.

When the Force were penalised at a tackle, Pietersen made it 24-0 after 16 minutes.

Two penalties and three scrums set the Force attacking but at no stage did they look like scoring, be they ever so close. Instead the Stormers counterrucked and Duvenhage cleared.

Another turnover produced a try. Haylett-Petty suffered a heavy tackle and the Stormers turned the ball over, going left. Fourie gave to Pietersen who ran 55 metres to score with Habana free on his outside. 31-0 after 28 minutes.

From the kick-off the Stormers secured and went right where Pietersen sent Peter Grant racing over for a try. 36-0 after 31 minutes.

The Stormers threw to Bekker in the line-out - which was no surprise - and formed a maul which they rushed downfield till Pieter Myburgh broke away. He was tackled at the line but the ball came back to Habana who had only to dive to score. It must be the shortest try the great wing has ever scored. 41-0, which was the half-time score.

The Stormers kicked penalties at goal regardless of the score. The Force, despite the score, opted for scrums and line-outs. So when the Force were offside, Pietersen made it 44-0 after 42 minutes.

The first Force try came from a penalty in their own half. They tapped and kicked across to the right where Joshua Tatupu got the high bounce and gave to Joelin Rapana who raced away to score. 44-5 after 44 minutes.

It was at this stage that the match became stodgy, but the Force scored their second try. They turned a penalty into a line-out. The ball came to the backs and there was a tackle in front of the posts, Swanepoel, gratefully at scrumhalf, picked up and darted through a massive gap to score at the posts, which encourage his team-mates to mob him. 44-12 after 64 minutes.

The Stormers had a penalty and replacement flyhalf Lionel Cronjé kicked a long kick with great accuracy for a line-out five metres from the Force line on their left. They spun the ball right and suddenly big, fast JJ Engelbrecht came cutting through - straight through to the posts. It was an excellent try. 51-12 with nine minutes to play.

Just after this Dunning and Potgieter were sent off.

With a minute to go, the Force were penalised at a tackle and - sad to say - the Stormers kicked the penalty goal.

In the Force side are a Swanepoel and a Pretorius. Mark Swanepoel was born in South Africa but grew up in Queensland and played for Australian Schools and Australia Under-20. What happened to him at Newlands seemed cruel to a 19-year-old. André Pretorius has moved from the Lions to the Force but did not play in this match.

The scorers:

For the Stormers:
Tries: Pietersen 2, Bekker, Liebenberg, Grant, Habana, Engelbrecht
Cons: Pietersen 4, Grant
Pens: Pietersen 2, Grant

For the Western Force:
Tries: Rapana, Swanepoel
Con: O'Connor

Red cards: Matt Dunning (Western Force, 78 - punching), Jacques Potgieter (Stormers, 78 - fighting)

Teams:

Stormers: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenhage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Pieter Myburgh, 5 Andries Bekker (captain), 4 De Kock Steenkamp, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements - from: Deon Fourie, JC Kritzinger, JD Moller, Anton van Zyl, Jacques Potgieter, Pieter Louw, Bolla Conradie, Lionel Cronjé, Sireli Naqelevuki, JJ Engelbrecht.

Western Force: 15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Joelin Rapana, 13 Mitch Inman, 12 Joshua Tatupu, 11 Mark Swanepoel, 10 Mark Bartholomeusz, 9 Chris O'Young, 8 Sam Wykes, 7 Matthew Hodgson, 6 Ben McCalman, 5 Tom Hockings, 4 Richard Stanford,  3 Tim Fairbrother, 2 , 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements - from: Ryan Tyrrell, Kieran Longbottom, Matt Dunning, Nathan Sharpe, David Pocock, Brett Sheehan, Cameron Shepherd, James O'Connor, Ryan Cross, Sam Harris

Referee: Mark Lawrence
Assistant referees: Joey Salmans, Marc van Zyl

By Paul Dobson

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