Stormers v Edinburgh: Five takeaways as Evan Roos ‘enhances’ Springboks bid while Dobbo’s Bomb Squad blasts Scots away
Stormers stars Damian Willemse and Evan Roos.
Following the Stormers’ 33-14 victory over Edinburgh, here are our five takeaways from the United Rugby Championship clash in Cape Town.
Top line
The Stormers were made to work incredibly hard for this bonus point victory over the lowly ranked Scottish outfit as the visitors made life tough for their hosts, who did a good job of that themselves.
Both teams were stubborn in their approach, vehemently sticking to their kick-heavy tactics despite it not bearing much fruit. Make no mistake, this was not an all-out bore as when things clicked for the hosts, they were a joy to watch.
Man of the match Evan Roos rounded off two stunning tries, to enhance his bid to earn more regular Springboks minutes this year, the first running a sharp support line off the shoulder of Ntuthuko Mchunu to break the deadlock on 24 minutes before doubling his tally in the second half.
Edinburgh’s response came in the 33rd minute as James Lang perfectly read Stefan Ungerer’s intentions and got in between his pass to Ruhan Nel and ran the length of the pitch to score a sterling solo intercept try.
The scores would remain seven points apiece at half-time, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu converting Roos’ try but twice failing with penalty attempts in the first half.
Into the second 40 and Leolin Zas sparked the move that resulted in his try, taking a lineout throw quickly to Warrick Gelant, who linked up with Nel down the short side, who in turn sent Zas tearing down the touchline to score.
Nine minutes later, the visitors hit back as Springboks prop Boan Venter burrowed over the line after a hulking carry by Malelili Satala from the set lineout move.
The Stormers took control of the match in the final quarter, first through a memorable front row union try as prop Mchunu ran a sharp line on Gelant’s shoulder and charged over from 20-odd metres out – he’ll claim it was further. That was followed by Gelant sending Roos through for his second before a dominant scrum in the final minutes gave the 39 years young Deon Fourie the opportunity to snaffle up the ball and score.
Aerial arm-wrestle
While the final scoreline reads 33-14. The kicking stats read 45-38, equating to more than a kick a minute in the match, dwarfing the other three fixtures in South Africa by at least 20 and in the case of the Bulls v Munster, almost doubling the tally.
Stormers boss John Dobson emphasised the kicking prowess of Edinburgh in the build-up to the game, and considering the conditions in Cape Town, he clearly felt it was worth fighting fire with fire, which resulted in a rather frustrating fixture to watch.
The hosts came away with the spoils in the aerial arm-wrestle, which allowed them to boss the possession, but for long stretches of this game, they managed to waste it and, on occasion, rather creatively.
Kicking accuracy and aerial prowess have become a major part of the modern game and in the last two years or so, it has contributed to creating a more entertaining game. But for that to occur, the kicking needs to be contestable and accurate, but neither team can confidently say that they regularly ticked those boxes.
Willemse at wing test
The big talking point of Dobson’s selection was that despite the Stormers boss making a plethora of changes to his starting lineup as Damian Willemse got a maiden run-out on the wing.
The collaborative call was made to mitigate Edinburgh’s tactical kicking game with the double World Cup-winning Springboks being an extremely gifted player in the air, and to his credit, he proved that again today.
Dobson was bracing for the backlash in the event that the ploy would end in disaster, but any criticism would be rather harsh on the evidence on display on Saturday evening. Sure, Willemse did have an error or two, like his slip inside his 22 that gave Edinburgh a lineout 5 metres from the Stormers’ try line, but there were far more positives than negatives overall.
The issue with playing Willemse on the wing, particularly with kick-heavy tactics that were deployed today, is that he simply does not see enough ball. An outstanding playmaker, attacker and even defender, the 27-year-old is at his absolute best when he is in the thick of the action.
It’s worth remembering that this was his first crack in the role and he could very well improve if given another go at it. Connacht and Ireland get plenty of purchase with Mack Hansen roaming into the midfield from the wing, and getting Willemse to do the same in attack could produce massive benefits.
It wasn’t a perfect debut on the wing, it was solid, strong and ultimately a tactically sound call. Is it worth trying again? Absolutely.
Stormers dominate the stats but not on the scoreboard
Three tries in the final quarter bloated the scoreline in the hosts’ favour and the impact from the bench can certainly take a lot of credit for that with Deon Fourie, Neethling Fouche, Matthee, and Dewaldt Duvenage leading the charge, but this was hardly a comfortable win for the Stormers, as Dobson conceded in the post-match interview.
Part of that was down to the effort of the Scottish outfit who refused to let the hosts steamroll them before they themselves ran out of gas but more so was the inaccuracies and wastefulness, aptly described as coach killers by Schalk Burger on commentary.
A snapshot of the stats tells the story as the Stormers made more carries (102-94), line breaks (13-6) and turnovers (7-4) than Edinburgh but also conceded more turnovers (23-14) and kicked more (45-38).
Possession and territory eventually evened out before the final whistle but there were prolonged periods of Stormers dominance that they quite simply did not capitalise on, often entering the Edinburgh 22 and coming up empty-handed.
The Stormers are a team with massive aspirations, but if they are to achieve those goals, they simply have to be more accurate because better teams will exploit their mistakes far more ruthlessly than Edinburgh managed to today.
The good and the bad
The hit-and-miss nature of this match was plainly obvious in some of the individual performances, too. Feinberg-Mngomezulu had moments of utter brilliance, repeatedly regathering his own up and unders, something that is becoming somewhat of a trademark skill, but even he wasn’t immune to poor execution of his skills. He missed touch with a penalty kick, thrice missed from the tee and was guilty of wasting possession.
His full-back Gelant put the magic touch on three of the Stormers’ five tries but he barely got out of second gear when Lang sprinted away downfield to score, while he gifted possession back to Edinburgh countless times with overcooked kicks and loose passes. The duo combined for eight turnovers conceded.
Mchunu is another example. His yellow card was a daft moment, slapping the ball out of Charlie Shiel’s hands at the back of a maul and it was only ever going to end in a 10-minute sin bin. But that came after his brilliant offload to Roos and he finished off his shift with a stunning try while also scrummaging well.
This wasn’t limited to the Stormers, though, as Lang married the outrageous with the silliness too, making poor decisions with ball in hand and winger Malelili Satala did the same. Grant Gilchrist is a leader in the Edinburgh pack and a warrior of a forward highlighted by his graft around the park but the stalwart was guilty of conceding three of his team’s 10 penalties and made some baffling lineout calls.
Ultimately, it was the Stormers’ bench that turned the tide of the match as they provided a more cutting-edge, brutal, and accurate approach that was sorely lacking throughout the encounter. The impact they made ensured that the host secured what a somewhat flattering winning margin in a bonus point victory.