Vodacom Stormers reaffirm their pedigree

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The Vodacom Stormers reaffirmed their pedigree as possible Vodacom Super 14 semifinalists with an emphatic 33-0 whitewash of the Highlanders at Newlands on Saturday night.

Blow-by-blow scoring

The win netted a four-try bonus point in the last minute of the game and thus made up for the log point that was missed when the Stormers failed to hold on for the draw against the Brumbies the previous week.

The five log points propelled the Stormers into third position on the log on points difference, although the Hurricanes were poised to knock them back to fourth if they beat the Cheetahs in the late game on Saturday.

It was a convincing all-round performance from the Stormers, who were superbly led by Schalk Burger until he was replaced late in the game. They led 16-0 at half time, and although they had to wait for the 60th minute before scoring their second try, they were full value for their bonus point and could easily have scored more were it not for another plethora of missed opportunities in the first half.

Apart from Burger, who returned from an absence caused by a hamstring twinge, the other experienced player in the Stormers pack, Andries Bekker, was also again supreme in all aspects of the game. South African rugby is indeed blessed to have two such fine locks as Bekker and Victor Matfield available to the Springboks. Anton van Zyl, playing for the first time as a No 4 lock in the starting team, was also impressive and joined Bekker in creating problems for the Highlanders lineout.

But it was a newcomer, or at least a relative newcomer, who stole the show for the hosts. When Tiaan Liebenberg was ruled out before kick-off with flu, some Stormers fans might have feared the worst. Liebenberg has been in outstanding form this season, and apart from being the anchor of the Stormers scrum he also plays a big hand in winning the collisions.

The 23-year-old replacement Deon Fourie though produced a performance to suggest this is a position that the Stormers have well covered. His electrifying runs exploited the gaps that were opened for him, on a couple of occasions he made several metres with opposition defenders hovering on his back. He also scored the first Stormers try.

That came in the 14th minute. By then the Stormers had managed to repel an intense start from the Highlanders with the sort of impregnable swarming defence that has seen them concede just two tries in their four games thus far in the competition.

They had even managed to convert the pressure they themselves were finally starting to apply in the Highlanders half, with Joe Pietersen putting over two penalties to make it 6-0. It became 13-0 once Fourie had barrelled over from a quick recycle near the Highlanders line after the Stormers had got there through an impressive passing buildup in which Burger, Bekker and Sireli Naqelevuki all featured prominently.

There was just one more Pietersen penalty for the rest of the half, but the Stormers were so dominant that it was clear that there could only be one winner. At the restart, the only real debate was whether the Stormers would clinch that bonus point try.

In the initial stages of the half the Highlanders threatened, and their best scoring opportunity in the match came when the TMO was consulted after they claimed they had grounded the ball against the post.

But it was mostly the Stormers, and their forwards again produced some impressive driving which advertised just how far Cape forward play has developed since the arrival of Rassie Erasmus and the acquisition of Matthew Proudfoot as forwards coach.

The Stormers forwards have produced some impressive driving mauls over the past year, but surely none was as impressive as the one that netted them their second try 20 minutes into the second half. They won a lineout all of 25 metres from the Highlanders line and just drove the opposition back before Burger reached down to dot down.

Going 21-0 up gave the Stormers licence to really open up in the last quarter in the quest for the bonus. Pieter Louw came on as a replacement for Burger, and off a five metre lineout the Stormers drove the Highlanders back and Louw dotted down.

That left the Stormers 12 minutes to score the final try. With play swinging this way and that, and the Stormers having to mix their attacking efforts with their obdurate defence, it looked as though the Stormers might be denied when the final minute arrived and they were still short.

But that was when Bryan Habana popped up to grab a ball that was charged down and score in the corner to show that when they need to score late in a game, the Stormers are quite capable. It was their first four-try bonus of the season, and will be a massive confidence booster ahead of the visits by the Hurricanes and Cheetahs.

Scorers

Vodacom Stormers - try: Deon Fourie, Schalk Burger, Pieter Louw, Bryan Habana. Conversion: Joe Pietersen, Peter Grant. Penalties: Joe Pietersen (3)

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