Stormers maintain momentum

Joe Pietersen © Gallo Images

The Vodacom Stormers moved back into second spot on the Super 14 log with a comprehensive but hard fought 21-8 win over the Vodacom Cheetahs in a typically bruising South African derby at Newlands on Saturday.

Blow-by-blow scoring

The Stormers scored two tries to one and were always comfortably ahead of the Cheetahs on the scoreboard once fullback Joe Pietersen had kicked two early penalties for them to lead 6-0 after 12 minutes.

But the Cheetahs are past masters at hanging in there when the odds are stacked against them, so there would have been some concerned Stormers fans among the 43 000 crowd as the Cheetahs defied the match statistics to stay into the game until into the last quarter.

Some might feel the Stormers fell short by not grabbing the four-try bonus point in this game, but that would be to fail to take into account some mitigating circumstances. It was always going to be tough to beat the Cheetahs when they were so clearly supremely motivated for the contest, and with their defensive line closing space so quickly, there wasn’t much room for the Stormers to manoeuvre.

However, what really counted in the Stormers' favour and will give them confidence ahead of the overseas leg which starts against the Western Force in Perth in two weeks' time was the fact they achieved this win with a late change that had the potential to derail them.

Regular flyhalf Peter Grant strained a quadriceps muscle in the pre-match warm-up. Under normal circumstances Willem de Waal would not have been considered a bad replacement. After all, there had been suggestions since the early season that De Waal should slot in at No 10 with Grant moving to inside centre.

But this was not the game for the late change, as there had already been a forced change at inside centre, where young Tim Whitehead was making his debut. A green player lining up alongside a flyhalf making his first Super 14 appearance of the season was hardly what the Stormers would have wanted.

The jitters among the Stormers faithful on the terraces would not have been calmed by the Cheetahs start. They made it clear that it was their intention to subject the Stormers to an aerial bombardment, and there were a couple of early flutters as the Stormers struggled to settle.

The Cheetahs, with Meyer Bosman lining up outside Naas Olivier, had the players to trouble the Stormers with kicks. Yet the mistakes that the Cheetahs were hoping for were not forthcoming. When you employ the strategy the Cheetahs were hell-bent on following, the key for the opposition is to get an early lead and force them to play catch-up.

That is precisely what the Stormers were able to do, with Pietersen’s penalties drawing them ahead before the Stormers began to take control of the territorial battle and started to dominate the battle for possession. By half time the Stormers had enjoyed 65% of territory and had forced the Cheetahs to make almost twice as many tackles.

The first Stormers try came after a good De Waal take of an attempted Cheetahs up-and-under, with the ball being taken confidently through several phases with some great passing and angles of running before Pietersen was presented with the space on the left corner that allowed him in.

The conversion made it 13-0, and it forced the Cheetahs into a rethink of their tactics. Before they did that though, they were able to strike back with an excellent try which was the product of a good chip kick that was superbly fielded by Robert Ebersohn as he chased it down before his pop pass put Meyer Bosman in for the try.

It was the first time the Stormers had conceded a try in the first half this season, but flyhalf Naas Olivier botched it a bit by missing a kickable conversion. Indeed, while his drop-goal did bring the Cheetahs back into it momentarily in the 50th minute at 13-8 (it had been 13-5 at half time), Olivier had an off-day in kicking for poles in front of his old fans.

It was a typical South African derby, at times resembling test match rugby as the two sets of players waded into each other with massive hits that at times tested their anger management and led to sporadic bouts of fisticuffs.

Seeing the Cheetahs come back into range seemed to be the cue for the Stormers to get it back together, and they had stretched the lead to 10 points just two minutes after the successful drop-goal. The Stormers had driven impressively upfield before newcomer Whitehead had showed impressive hands as the ball was spun down the line, with Jaque Fourie putting in an excellent run.

Fourie himself was then on hand to take Schalk Burger’s inside pass as he barged towards the corner flag. With 25 minutes to go, and with the Stormers again so good defensively, that was really game, set and match, which wasn’t a bad effort at all from the Stormers if you consider they suffered further disruption when fullback Pietersen was forced out of the match at half time.

It made the bonus point a tall order, but the Stormers should be happy with what they did get. It enables them to leave for overseas with a record that reads five wins in six matches, the only blemish being the last-minute defeat at Newlands to the Brumbies.

Scorers:
Vodacom Stormers - Tries: Joe Pietersen, Jaque Fourie. Conversion: J Pietersen. Penalties: J Pietersen (2), Willem de Waal.
Vodacom Cheetahs - Try: Meyer Bosman. Drop Goal: Naas Olivier.

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