Stormers player ratings: ‘Diabolical lineout’ costs John Dobson’s side dearly as Siya Kolisi loses second debut
Stormers forwards Hacjivah Dayimani and Vernon Paulo.
Following the Stormers’ 17-13 defeat to Edinburgh, here’s how we rated John Dobson’s charges in the United Rugby Championship round two clash at the Hive Stadium.
Stormers player ratings v Edinburgh
15 Warrick Gelant: Tried to create and spark the attack but had little success when doing so and when he did later in the game, Wandisile Simelane was unable to stay in the field of play. Countered reasonably well but often made his job harder with poor positioning. 4
14 Seabelo Senatla: Lively throughout. He visited the sin bin for a professional foul and rightly so, but was still one of the best on the park today. Relentless. 7
13 Ruhan Nel (c): The Stormers skipper is the side’s defensive leader and that was a standout facet of Dobson’s side’s performance this evening. Very few opportunities in attack, though. 5
12 Jonathan Roche: Job done in many regards and done rather well. Nothing too flashy, shifted the ball on nicely, made his tackles and even got a nice jackal in the first half. 5
11 Leolin Zas: Conceded three turnovers and struggled in the air at times and didn’t get much ground when he did get his hands on the ball. 4
10 Yaqeen Ahmed: A tough game in tough conditions for a young pivot entrusted with running the Stormers’ attack but Ahmed fared reasonably well. He didn’t make much ground with his line kicks into the wind, understandably, and had a handful of errors but nothing dire. Certainly not aided by the diabolical lineout. 6
9 Stefan Ungerer: Kicked rather well from the base, both with and against the wind. One of the early subs in the second half after a better-than-average performance, considering the conditions and faltering lineout. 6
The forwards
8 Hacjivah Dayimani: Used at the front of the lineout regularly in the first half before the Stormers rightly ditched that tactic. Heavily involved throughout in all facets of the game. Credited with the try after a dominant scrum. Named man of the match in a losing effort. 8
7 Louw Nel: A classic South African blindside who simply gets on with the job and does so with real aggression, physicality and a serious work-rate. Did so while staying on the right side of the referee’s whistle too. 7
6 Siya Kolisi: Just three weeks after captaining the Springboks to a third successive victory over the All Blacks, Kolisi made his second Stormers debut. It was far from a blockbuster 50-odd minutes on his return in the blue and white hoops as he simply did what was expected of him. He cleared rucks, made his tackles and had precious few opportunities to carry with the visitors’ lineout epically failing. Not poor, not bad, just fine. 6
5 JD Schickerling: As the more senior lock and presumably the lineout caller, Schickerling has to cop a fair amount of the blame for the atrocious lineout display in the first half. Tirelessly in defence and a big frame in contact. 5
4 Riley Norton: The Springboks prospect muscled up against a strong Edinburgh pack and didn’t look out of place in a busy and effective performance in open play. He wasn’t utilised often in the lineout at all. One of the forwards hooked early in the first half. 6
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3 Neethling Fouché: Big tackle count from the tighthead prop landing 13 shots before he departed the pitch. Two penalties against him but Fouché was busy and strong in the scrums. 7
2 André-Hugo Venter: The lineout fell to pieces the minute he trod off the park for an HIA in the 22nd minute, which he ultimately failed after a friendly-fire head-on-head collision. He was putting a decent shift together before that incident. 5
1 Ntuthuko Mchunu: A busy outing by the loosehead prop who continues his excellent form since swapping Durban for Cape Town. He got his hands on the ball plenty and was equally busy in defence while doing a solid job in the scrums. 7
Replacements: Vernon Paulo played a huge role in the utter disaster that was the Stormers lineout repeatedly detailed above. The 25-year-old simply has to improve his throws going forward. Meanwhile, the reserve props decimated the Edinburgh scrum at a crucial time, with Connor Evans, Adre Smith and Wandile Mlaba making telling impacts. The Stormers’ ‘Bomb Squad’ didn’t quite explode in the manner it needed to. 6