Tight one: Juan de Jongh didn't get many opportunities
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A second-half try from Gio Aplon proved enough for the Stormers to beat the Cheetahs 13-6 in a wet Bloemfontein on Saturday.
A bonus-point win for the Stormers would have seen them move above the Chiefs at the top of the overall standings. But the team from Cape Town have failed to pick up a single four-try bonus point all season and the meteorological conditions at the Free State Stadium didn't offer any help as the cold rain drove down onto a soggy pitch.
The result does however ensure that the Stormers will finish at the summit of the South African conference and a single point against the Rebels next week will guarantee a home semi-final.
A dour first half characterised by handling errors and territorial kicking came to an end (at last) with the scores locked at 3-3.
It took 17 minutes for the first points to be scored via the boot of Stormers fly-half Peter Grant. The visitors had come close to crossing the whitewash once but when a pile of orange jerseys prevented Deon Fourie from releasing just inches short of the line, Grant could step up and open his account.
The Cheetahs had their first chance at points in the 34th minute thanks to a scrum penalty but Riaan Smit sent his effort wide. The home fly-half found the mark just before half time however to level the scores after a period of sustained pressure from the hosts.
The Stormers started the second period clearly pushing for a try and turned down a shot at goal three times in favour of going for an elusive five-pointer.
But even when the Cheetahs were reduced to 14 men - Willie le Roux saw yellow for a cynical offside - the home defence could not be breached and eventually the Stormers took three, again from Grant.
Smit levelled the scores again almost immediately afterwards but the deadlock would soon be broken. Grant spotted space behind the Cheetahs' defence and lobbed a perfectly-weighted kick in the corner. The chasing Aplon simply had to collect the ball after a favourable bounce to ghost over untouched.
Grant added the extras with an excellent kick from out wide to put the Stormers ahead 13-6 approaching the hour mark and the scorers weren't troubled again.
The scorers:
For Cheetahs:
Pens: Smit 2
For Stormers:
Try: Aplon
Con: Grant
Pens: Grant 2
Yellow card: Le Roux (Cheetahs - 45th min - deliberate offside)
Cheetahs: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Philip Snyman, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Barry Geel, 11 Cameron Jacobs, 10 Riaan Smit, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Justin Downey, 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 Andries Ferreira/George Earle, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Trevor Nyakane.
Replacements:16 Hercu Liebenberg, 17 WP Nel, 18 George Earle/Waltie Vermeulen, 19 Ashley Johnson, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Sias Ebersohn, 22 Nico Scheepers.
Stormers: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 De Kock Steenkamp, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Deon Carstens, 18 Quinn Roux, 19 Don Armand, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Gerhard van den Heever.
Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Comments
carpelone says...
@ Ramage.
No doubt that Chiefs and Crusaders showed the best rugby, this is why I said that there is some reconstuction going on here. Some individuals are emerging, but not sufficient to give substance to the teams. It will eventually come. Playing on the veld can give you less opportunities in case you lose the position game. It is apparent that Stormers did not look as if they were to make it. Way far one dimensional game, too unbalanced.
Posted 11:07 09th July 2012
Herbman says...
Stormers have been playing finals-rugby all year, in my book they're favorites to win the title.
Posted 09:02 09th July 2012
Ramage says...
@carpelone The Stormers required four tries to get the bonus to tie them with the Chiefs and place them ahead on games won. What surprised me was that they made no attempt to go for any tries when in a position to do so. Surely they could have tried to score some tries from the favourable positions they got themselves into early in the game. I know playing on the high veld has its difficulties. My problem with the Stormers was the attitude and how they did not accept the challenge. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't see how playing on the veld had the influence on the Stormers in this game. To me it was all about mindset and attitude. However, the Stormers have one last chance next week to go to the top and claim home semi and finals depending on results.
The likely line up is Chiefs, Stormers to have the rest. Brumbies vs Sharks at Canberra, Crusaders vs Bulls at Christchurch. Both Saffa teams have to travel and are away from their massive home support. That would leave the Stormers to play the Crusaders and the Chiefs to play the Brumbies if they get past the Sharks of which there is no guarantee. After that depending on outcomes an all NZ final, an all Saffa final.a NZ OZ final or an Oz Saffa final. Lol the fat lady has to sing yet so even this coming week could dish up some results to put everything into disarray. Including the Woeful Bloos bottom of the NZ conference defeating the Brumbies and letting the Reds sneak into the semis.
One fact that has emerged is that should either the Stormers or the Chiefs get eliminated in their semi final matches, it will mean two of the top finishing teams have never come up against each other this year. That in my mind is unacceptable and shows one of the weaknesses of this whole conference system. In MHO all teams should be tested by every team.
Posted 06:11 09th July 2012
Rolf says...
j* -
where are you?
silenced by pathetic stormers display . or on holiday?
Posted 19:18 08th July 2012
carpelone says...
There is a lot of reconstruction going on in the SA, the Sharks look like the best team, although they are currently running third.
You Kiwi Internet warriors, have you eve played on the veld? A different kind of rugby is required.
Posted 15:45 08th July 2012
Stellenbosched2 says...
I think the reason why the Stormers are playing percentage rugby is very simple. They are under enourmous pressure from their fans to win a cup, and the traditional style of WP rugby hasn't won anything of late. Furthermore, as we approach the finals, the (current)style of Stormers rugby will be attempted by most teams, as that is the way of knock-out rugby. The Stormers will then have a massive advantage.
Personally I hope they carry on playing as they have and win the title this season. This will get the monkey off their back and next year we can look forward to the style of rugby we expect from the Stormers.
As a spectacle last nights game wasn't much to watch, but at least it gave the Sharks talent scouts an indication of whether next years Sharks team can play in the wet....
Posted 11:36 08th July 2012
rugbyphile says...
Interesting to try to work out why the Stormers just cannot score tries--don't blame the conditions this week as they have not got a bonus point all season. To me it looks like they do not play with each other when on attack--on defence they work together and are excellent--on attack they run -when they run with no thought of getting into a position where suppoert can happen--and when someone runs the rest watch him from behind--there is no support. There is no shortage of linebreakers-no need to go through the names-Grant has often broken the line this season but there is seldom any link and continuity. Is it the aura of Schalk Burger that pervades--the ultimate individualist--? Is it Fleck or Coetzee? Are they so focussed on defence that they do not know how to put an attack together? Whatever the reason--Doug Hopwood, Rob Louw, Dave Stewart, John Gainsford, Eben Olivier, Robbie Blair--etc etc must surely tear their hair out watching this week after week.
Posted 09:34 08th July 2012
pikes says...
Lmao @ FISH juan de jongh is 1 of the best centres in the world ! He punches above his wweight if u knew his background you would rate him much better ... That's if your South African ! But to make it easier to understand to you some players in SA don't get it easy to make it to the top level .... U can HATE all u like about the STORMERS , but they're winningisnt that the whole purpose y you playing rugby ... You all seem to forget how many injuries they have Schalk Burger, Duane Vermeulen Eben Etzebeth etc all season long they had lots of injuries but still they win ! Everytime the Stormers wins you just critisise but that's coz u hatin'
Posted 08:49 08th July 2012
spliffed says...
As a Stormers/WP fan for far more years than I care to think about on the one hand I hope they win it on the other they dont deserve it, although on a more positive note they have cured my insomnia. I'm deeply saddened to see a team whose traditional brand of rugby used to be the most exciting in SA, playing not to lose. Defense wins matches.. But so does scoring tries. they have less bonus points than any other team in the ladder and close to the lowest points for, in the entire competition.
Posted 08:21 08th July 2012
4rugby says...
What a boring game. I'm hoping that the Stormers don't make the Final this style of Rugby should not be rewarded.
Posted 22:18 07th July 2012
Ramage says...
Fantastic Friday has turned into Sloppy Saturday.The Stormers don't deserve to be the number one side with the way they showed no imagination. What a borefest this game turned out to be, even worse than the Brumbies Flower Girls match in Sydney.
Posted 16:19 07th July 2012
FISH says...
i know the weather sucked but the stormers are boring, thier attack sucks, everyone wants more stormers in the team and certainly there are a few that should be there....but only on the bench, jaun de jongh is so over rated, still better than wynand,
Posted 16:13 07th July 2012
tweedledee49 says...
The Cheetahs certainly came out fighting and you gotta admire their effort but well done Stormers. Stormers had the 1st place spot presented to them by the Crusaders and they could not capitalize and home advantage in the final stages will probably come back to haunt them...(assuming its a Chiefs v Stormers final of course).
the funny thing about this weekend is that out of the top 3 teams, the one that lost played better than the other two who won, combined...or maybe its just me.
Posted 16:06 07th July 2012
philipjfry says...
Both teams and their respective coaching staff should be tried in the Hague for human rights violations.
Posted 15:59 07th July 2012