Stormers sneak into top four
Sat, 03 May 2008 18:59
Try time: Stormers captain Jean de Villiers scores
The Stormers sneaked into the top four on the Super 14 standings with a hard-earned, but well-deserved 20-10 win over the Brumbies at Newlands on Saturday.
The victory was based on a sublime first-half performance, in which the Stormers took a 20-0 lead inside half-an-hour, but they may still be hurt by their inability in the last few weeks to collect bonus points.
Either way, the Stormers are now fourth and have their play-off destiny in their own hand.
The Stormers' avowed intent was just to win the match. That is what they did, no more and no less.
It took them 28 minutes to get the score they needed and that was it. They scored no more points for the next 52 minutes. Oh, they came close on occasions but not with great conviction. The second half in particular they played second fiddle but by and large won the defence.
The Brumbies were outmuscled in the first half. At half time they decided to do some muscling of their own and spent the second half with a plethora of ball to little profit - not even a bonus point's profit.
While they kept the ball, they did it so slowly and that it was of value only in as much as the Stormers did not have it. They were not able to match the tempo at which the Stormers could play. They relied heavily on Mark Gerrard to get them any sort of field position.
Obviously it was not a stirring game - tense more because of the competition's situation and the ambitions which the Stormers and their supporters have than for the quality of the play. In fact both sides handled poorly.
The Brumbies had a threatening moment at the start of the second half when Wylie Human had a chip charged. The Stormers scrambled back and then Peter Grant had a clearing kick charged down. When Patrick Phibbs lobbed the ball over a tackle/ruck they looked likely to score but Francis Fainifo was ahead of the kick.
The Stormers' first try was spectacular. From a line-out going left Gcobani Bobo cut clean through past Tyrone Smith on a long ran down the middle of the field. He gave to Jean de Villiers on his left and the centre surged over with Stirling Mortlock on his back. Grant converted. 7-0 after 12 minutes.
The Stormers were playing at speed, with Grant attacking the advantage line time and again. They had a big maul and their scrum was working.
Going right Sireli Naqelevuki made a power break and the ball went to the left where Conrad Jantjes was tackled out at the Conrad. Jantjes had another great game but in that situation the Stormers would have preferred to have had Tonderai Chavhanga.
The Brumbies were off-side and Grant made it 10-0 after 21 minutes.
The Brumbies kicked off and the Stormers moved to 17-0. They lobbed a short kick to the right where De Villiers beat Adam Ashley-Cooper for the ball. The big centre raced down the touchline on his left. About to be tackled he passed inside to Bobo but Bobo was knocked down early by flyhalf Christian Lealiifano. The referee swept across to the posts, awarded a penalty try and sent Lealiifano to the sin bin. Grant converted.
When the Brumbies were again off-side under their posts as the Stormers attacked, Grant made it 20-0 after 28 minutes,.
Finished and klaar, as South Africans used to say a lot. But the big crowd was having lots of noisy fun.
The Brumbies then went through lots of phases and lots of slow pick-'n-go till it was half-time.
The Brumbies were the only ones to score in the second half.
Their first score came from a scrum. They went right at speed and with exact passes. Tyrone Smith broke through De Villiers and as he was tackled by Jantjes got the ball away to Ashley-Cooper who dived over. 20-5 after 56 minutes.
The Stormers spent most of this half with scraps of possession and when they did get some they presented it gift-wrapped to the Brumbies. They kicked it to them. They yielded free kicks at tackles. They won line-outs and gave the ball to the Brumbies. They won scrums and gave the ball to the Brumbies. It was a bit like Old Boys versus School when benign Old Boys want to give the School a chance to play. Or maybe they were just giving their defence a thorough workout.
They did have a moment when Naqelevuki was close to the line and after a sharp break by Luke Watson when Jantjes was held up and then De Villiers was close.
But the Brumbies took a tap free kick far out on the left and went wide right where Gerrard chipped. The ball bounced high and backwards to Joshua Holmes and the Brumbies were bashing at the line. Replacement prop Peter Kimlin picked up at the base of a tackle/ruck, dived over it and scored a try which the TMO confirmed. 20-10 with a minute or so to play.
Man of the match: The obvious candidates were Conrad Jantjes, Schalk Brits and our choice busy, energetic, fearless Ricky Januarie with his skill and commitment.
Moment of the Match: There was a great moment when the Brumbies kicked high and Conrad Jantjes raced forward, leapt and with perfect timing caught the ball in the air, but the defining moment was probably the penalty try which started when Jean de Villiers caught the kick-off.
Villain of the Match: Giving away the penalty try earned young Christian Lealiifano ten minutes in the sin-bin but their probably was more bad timing than villainy in what he did.
Scorers:
For the Stormers:
Tries: De Villiers, Penalty try
Cons: Grant 2
Pens: Grant 2
For the Brumbies:
Tries: Ashley-Cooper, Kimlin
Yellow card: Christian Lealiifano (Brumbies, 22 - professional foul, early tackle)
Teams:
Stormers: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Wylie Human, 13 Gcobani Bobo, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Sireli Naqelevuki, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Ricky January, 8 Robbie Diack, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Luke Watson, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Brian Mujati.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Ross Skeate, 19 Pieter Myburgh, 20 Bolla Conradie, 21 Tony Brown, 22 Dylan des Fountain.
Brumbies: 15 Mark Gerrard, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain),12 Tyrone Smith, 11 Francis Fainifo, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Patrick Phibbs, 8 Julian Salvi, 7 George Smith, 6 Stephen Hoiles, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Alister Campbell, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16 John Ulugia, 17 Guy Shepherdson, 18 Peter Kimlin, 19 Ben Alexander, 20 Mitchell Chapman, 21 Josh Holmes, 22 Afusipa
Taumoepeau.
Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Vinny Munro (New Zealand), Phillip Bosch (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
