Stormers make it two from two
Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:22
Leading from the front: Jean de Villiers
The Stormers retained their unbeaten run in Australasia when they beat the Chiefs 35-26 in their Super 14 Round Five match at the Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, on Friday.
Outscoring the Chiefs by four tries to two the Cape Town-based franchise moved up to sixth place in the standings and are right back in play-off contention - after losing in their first three starts of the competition.
Funny old game on a perfect night in Hamilton - lots of endeavour and enterprise, some real thrills, lost of pointless kicking, a multitude of exciting turn-over and lots of shoddy handling.
When it came to shoddy handling and turn-overs the Chiefs took the cake, That they were as close as they were at the end almost seems farcical. That said, their second half, as against the Cheetahs last week, was a lot better as they started attacking with ball in hand. And they could have been even better off had Tom Willis's left foot not stepped into touch as he passed infield.
Their injury woes persist. Having decided to have only two backs on the bench they were left with a replacement hooker on the wing and a replacement scrumhalf in the centre. But even then they attacked. But two skew throws at the line-out, more handling errors and more turn-overs at the breakdown thwarted their best intentions.
The Stormers again looked a nearly complete side. Nearly? Their scrumming is not good enough, but their line-outs were excellent and their work at the tackle probably won them the match - that and their new-found confidence that again produced a bonus point for tries. One try in their first three matches and now eight in the next two. As Robbie Deans said after the Crusaders beat the Stormers 22-0 at Newlands, "They will win matches."
The Stormers conceded just one turn-over in the match - the first one of the match, off Luke Watson. Then Adriaan Fondse went off-side at a tackle and Stephen Donald, kicking only 45% in this year's Super 14 before this match, slotted the penalty. 3-0 after 5 minutes.
It was one for you and one for you at the tackle as Tom Harding was penalised for being off-side and Peter Grant levelled the scores.
Really, it was the Stormers who attacked, this way and that, and the first three Chiefs' scores came on their only visits to the Stormers' half in a half in which the Stormers should have clinched the bonus point by half-time.
They came close to scoring when Enrico Januarie collected a chip by Sitiveni Sivivatu, chipped and footed ahead, the bounce just eluding Andries Bekker. But the Stormers were on the attack. The Chiefs' scrum crumbled and Januarie grabbed Brendon Leonard. François Louw won the turn-over and Grant broke sharply just getting the ball over in the tackle. He converted.
The Chiefs got back into the Stormers' half when Grant kicked an up-and-under into the Chiefs 22 and play stopped with a line-out to the Chiefs in the Stormers 22 as the men from the Waikato counterattacked. Schalk Brits was penalised for deliberately slowing the ball down at a tackle and Donald had the easy task of kicking the ball over. 10-6 to the Stormers after 20 minutes.
The next try was a gem, one that should be on display all over the world. Watson won a turn-over off Liam Messam but Januarie dithered and dithered before giving the ball to Tonderai Chavhanga inside his own half. He was standing still but suddenly burst into speed. He handed off Simms Davison and was running and swerving with long, long strides. He went around Leonard and then the sprawling Richard Kahui to score. It was a glorious moment. 15-6 after 24 minutes.
When Schalk Burger and others held Messam, they forced a free kick for an unsuccessful maul. Januarie tapped and off the Stormers went down the left. Naqelevuki went down the touch-line with great strength and gave inside to Conrad Jantjes who scored. Grant converted, 22-6 after 38 minutes.
It seemed that the Stormers would blow the Chiefs right away but the Chiefs were resilient and had a pleasant reward. The Stormers were playing with the ball, spread wide across the field and indulging in passing till along pass from Jantjes was intercepted by Kahui who ran half the length of the field, all by himself, to score under the posts. Donald converted. The score was 22-13, which seemed farcical.
The Stormers could have got their fourth but for an error of judgement by captain Jean de Villiers. Naqelevuki went for a stroll and strolled powerfully through two defenders before giving to De Villiers on the left touch-line. The big centre raced and looked certain to score. He may have though the five-metre line was the goal-line for he started his dive early and managed to keep surfing but the television match official was able to advise that his left elbow had clipped the touch-line before he went over.
The Stormers battered and bashed as the brave Chiefs dug in and then Fondse lost the ball forward at the line.
The Chiefs;'s survival was not complete for Grant kicked another three points when tall Kevin O'Neill dived into a tackle/ruck shoulder first when the ball was out.
That made the score 25-13 at half-time.
The Chiefs came whooping back in the second half. Louw was penalised for being off-side and Donald made it 25-16. Sivivatu burst down the middle and the Stormers were forced to scramble on defence till Lelia Masaga, the man they call flash, handed off tall Andries Bekker and burst past Jantjes to score a try reminiscent of Chavhanga's earlier try. Donald converted. 25-23 after 47 minutes.
Was this going to be a repeat of the Cheetahs' match? Sadly for the Chiefs there was little left despite a far better effort in the second half. In the first half they were outplayed and scored 13 points. In the second half they outplayed the Stormers, dilapidated as they were, and scored 13 points. It doesn't seem fair somehow
The Stormers went on a multiphased attack. When Ben May was penalised for a high tackle, Grant eased the lead to 28-23. It was the only penalty the Chiefs conceded in the second half..
Back the Chiefs came on attack but the Stormers managed to get out of their half with Naqelevuki bursting down the left, close to, if not on, the touch-line. He passed inside to Gcobani Bobo who had a long but straight and open run for the line. Scrumhalf Leonard easily hauled centre Bobo in. Bobo popped the ball back to Burger who was immediately felled at the line by Masaga. Masaga was off-side. Had he not been off-side and tackling Burger, Burger would have scored, and so the referee went off and awarded a penalty try.
The Chiefs attacked and turned a penalty into a five-metre line-out, but Willis threw in skew. The Stormers tried to run away from the subsequent scrum but Mils Muliaina intercepted. The Chiefs stayed on the attack and Donald made the score 35-26 when Naqelevuki was adjudged off-side.
That was the end of the scoring with 21 minutes to play in which the Chiefs had the better of the game.
Man of the Match: The turn-overs at the breakdown went 12-1 to the Stormers which peaks volumes for their effort at the tackle, especially that of their three loose forwards. Of the loose forwards the outstanding one was, inevitable, inevitably, committed Schalk Burger, our Man of the Match.
Moment of the Match: Tonderai Chavhanga's try.
Villain of the match: Nobody at all.
The scorers:
For the Chiefs:
Tries: Kahui, Masaga
Cons: Donald 2
Pens: Donald 4
For the Stormers:
Tries: Grant, Chavhanga, Jantjes, Penalty try
Cons: Grant 3
Pens: Grant
3
Teams:
Chiefs: 15 Sosene Anesi, 14 Lelia Masaga, 13 Mils Muliaina (captain), 12 Richard Kahui, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Brendon Leonard, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Tom Harding, 6 Faifili Levave, 5 Kevin O'Neill, 4 Toby Lynn, 3 Ben May, 2 Tom Willis , 1 Simms Davison.
Replacements: 16 Vern Kamo, 17 Ben Castle, 18 Hayden Hopgood, 19 Sione Lauaki, 20 Tanerau Latimer, 21 David Bason, 22 Callum Bruce.
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 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 JD Moller.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Ross Skeate, 19 Robbie Diack, 20 Bolla Conradie, 21 Gio Aplon, 22 Dylan Des Fountain.
Referee: Matt Goddard
(Australia)
Touch judges: Nathan Pearce (Australia), Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Television match official: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)
Assessor: Kim Eichmann (New Zealand)
