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Stormers dispose Bulls' B-Team

Sat, 15 May 2010 18:58

Not a one-man band: Stormers flyer Bryan Habana - Pic: Doug Fitz-Gerald

The Stormers will meet the Waratahs in the Super 14 semifinal at Newlands next week, after easily disposing of a disjointed Bulls second string outfit (38-10) at the same venue on Saturday.

It will be the Stormers' first home semifinal in Super Rugby since 1999 and their first appearance in the play-offs since 2004.

"See you next week." Those were the sweetest words at Newland after this match which the Stormers never looked like losing and could so easily have won by a lot more against the pick-up Bulls team that had lots of enthusiasm and flung muscle about but lacked structure and cohesion, and the Stormers easily felled the big men charging. Emotion was not enough and Vodacom Cup muscle was unlikely to scare off a team coming off a Super 14 campaign. The hardened veterans were not threatened by the eager rookies and eventually brushed them aside.

In the last match of the Super 14, the home semifinals were decided. And in the last minute of last match the Stormers got their first yellow card - given to two-try Bryan Habana for going offside to play the ball when the Bulls had a good chance of scoring a try - which they did soon afterwards as the Stormers conceded four five-metre penalties in quick succession in their keenness to keep intact the best defensive record in the 2014 Super 14.

Newlands was packed for the occasion with 48 739 spectator5s and the flags were blue, mostly dark blue but when Ruan Snyman scored their late try there was suddenly an outbreak of light blue flags, which suggested more Bull supporters than was readily apparent.

As the match went to an inevitable conclusion Saturday night Newlands became increasingly festive.

When the Stormers ran onto the field, the crowd stood to applaud them, When their heroes were subbed, the crowd were loud in their applause, but to be fair when the Bulls' stand-in captain Bakkies Botha was subbed they gave him a grand ovation. By then the certainty of victory may well have encouraged generosity!

The Stormers kicked off and ran from the start. Heini Adams, who had an unhappy match, knocked on a high kick and the Stormers ran, as they would continue to do for the rest of the match. Flip van der Merwe was penalised at a tackle -  the Bulls were penalised 10 times at tackles - there was a long hold-up while Gio Aplon was attended to and eventually the flyhalf missed the kick from an awkward angle. After that he kicked well, goaling all but a conversion from touch which hit an upright.

The Bulls were free-kicked at the first two scrums of the match and on each occasion the Stormers tapped and ran.  The first time they went right and then far left where Habana strolled over for a try. 7-0 after 5 intense minutes.

The Stormers, moistly, played the ball from the top at line-outs and, blond hair flying, Gerrit-Jan van Velze made a beeline for Dewaldt Duvenage. He battled to get a pass away and Grant could not control it and neither could Juan de Jongh Wicus Blaauw was penalised and Jacques-Louis Potgieter goaled. 7-3 after 9 minutes. The Bulls scored again some 70 minutes later.

The Stormers attacked with strong running by François Louw and Jaque Fourie sand a burst of speed by mercurial Aplon. Grant goaled two penalties and the Stormers led 13-3 after 15 minutes.

When a clearing kick by Duvenage was changed down, the Bulls attacked without looking like scoring as the Stormers tackled decisively.

The Stormers attacked with tall Andries Bekker in the van  and then they had a 3-against-2 situation on the left. Joe Pietersen ran at speed and Habana scored near touch-in-goal. 18-3 after 35 minutes.

The Stormers changed line-out tack and brought the ball down, formed a maul and then attacked left and right by the Stormers had Bekker charging for the line to stretch and score. 25-3 after 30 minutes.

The Bulls had a promising maul from a line-out after a penalty but were held up. The Stormers had a five-metre scrum and Duvenage broke out with a 40-metre run down the right.

When Engels was penalised at a tackle, Grant made the half-time score 28-3.

The match as a contest was over. The big decision had been made - the Stormers would play the Waratahs in a semifinal at Newlands. Comparted with the champagne of the first half, the second half was flat beer.

The Stormers started the second half on the attack. Grant was close and then goaled a penalty.

The Stormers won a turnover near half-way and spun the ball to Aplon on the left. He scooted ahead, chipped, caught the ball and scooted some more till he gave inside to Jaque who had an unencumbered run to the posts. 38-3.

The Stormers emptied their bench. A spectator said: "Ah, now we have Stormers B playing Bulls B."

The Bulls attacked.  They kicked a diagonal to the right and Habana was penalised for an air tackle, the first of four five-metre tackles that ended when Ruan Snyman scored a try.

Just before the end Pedrie Wannenburg had a long run till he ran out of ideas.

Man of the Match: The candidates were all Stormers - from Joe Pietersen to Wicus Blaauw and all the others in between. The strongest candidates are Andries Bekker, who did not play the whole match, and our choice Peter Grant, the cool, judicious flyhalf.

The scorers:

For the Stormers:
Tries: Habana 2, Bekker, Fourie
Cons: Grant 3
Pens: Grant 4

For the Bulls:
Try: Snyman
Con: Brummer
Pen: Potgieter

Yellow cards: De Wet Barry (Bulls, 52 - repeated infringements, killing the ball at the breakdown), Bryan Habana (Stormers, 78 - repeated infringements, offside)

Teams:

Stormers: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger (captain), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Eusebio Guinazu, 18 Anton van Zyl, 19 Pieter Louw, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Willem de Waal, 22 Tim Whitehead.

Bulls: 15 Tiger Mangweni, 14 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 13 Stephan Dippenaar, 12 De Wet Barry, 11 Deon Helberg, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Gerrit-Jan van Velze, 6 Derick Kuün, 5 Bakkies Botha (captain), 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Bees Roux, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 Jaco Engels.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Dean Greyling, 18 Fudge Mabeta, 19 Okkie Kruger, 20 Ruan Snyman, 21 Francois Brummer, 22 Stefan Watermeyer.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Reuben Rossouw (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

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