Second-half gear shift wins it for sloppy Stormers

The DHL Stormers’ version of the Springboks’ famous bomb squad engineered the momentum shift that saw the hosts to a full house of five log points as they overcame the Lions 34-27 in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby at the DHL Stadium on Saturday.

The win with a bonus point keeps the Stormers well clear of the chasing pack in pole position with this being their seventh win in as many starts in the competition this season and they will have a strong buffer when they face the Bulls in their next derby here two weeks from now (3 January). However, their coach John Dobson will be the first to admit they will have to be a lot better if they are going to beat their arch-rivals from Pretoria.

The Stormers had probably their worst opening 40 minutes of the season by some distance, worse even than when they were outplayed early on by Munster in the first half of their last URC game. At times you’d have thought they were playing in humid, slippery Durban such was the difficulty they appeared to have holding onto the ball.

Let it be said too that the Lions were really up for this game, and had the Johannesburg team somehow managed to get across the line for the converted try they were pressing for a few minutes from the end, a draw would have been no less than they deserved. Indeed, a win might have been more fitting.

HORRENDOUS START AS LIONS USED THE SUN AS THEIR ALLY

But after a horrendous start in which the Lions cleverly kicked into the sunlit corner of the ground where the sun was clearly shining directly into the Stormers’ players’ eyes, and Evan Roos spilt it and the Lions took advantage to put in Ruan Venter for the first try after just 55 seconds, the Stormers somehow managed to survive a first half where they were almost always under the kosh.

That is meant in the sense that the Lions dominated possession and also spent almost the entire half camped in Stormers territory. The Lions did add to the Venter try with one on the stroke of halftime, through the almost identical route as the first one of the Stormers spilling a restart when facing into the sun, with the same player crossing the line.

But by then it was clear the Stormers had survived the storm, for they’d scored a good try of their own to wing Dylan Maart, and had managed to go into those final two minutes of the half with parity on the scoreboard (10-all). And with the Stormers set to benefit from the arrival of their “storm squad”, the 17-10 lead the Lions enjoyed at the break was never going to be enough.

It was also a lot less than they deserved. Had they taken their opportunities, and the Stormers not scrambled so tenaciously, the Lions could easily have been 15 points up. When they weren’t, and considering they had lost two locks, Reinhard Nothnagel and then his replacement Darrien Landsberg, it was going to require the Lions to be the first to score in the second half for them to have a chance of winning.

FREAKY BOUNCE HELPED HOSTS

They didn’t score first, but it was quite a bizarre bounce that presented Stormers scrumhalf Cobus Reinach with the attacking opportunity that sent Wandisile Simelane in for the try that drew the scores level after just two minutes of the second half. The ball travelled back off a kick in the direction of the Lions’ tryline, the result of a surface that was made to look decidedly patchwork and poor by the motocross that was held at this venue the previous weekend.

You could say that was a quite freaky example of the conditions working for the home team, but in reality it wasn’t that and it was quite unacceptable that the field was in such disrepair. If the Stormers are going to be the Cape Town City’s main tenants in the stadium, more care needs to be taken around what is scheduled for the stadium.

Once Simelane’s try was converted by Jurie Matthee, who like his opposite number Chris Smith was unerring from the tee despite a tricky summer wind blowing across the ground, the Stormers were never headed and the statement moment of the change of tempo in the game came when the Stormers, with their reserve forwards on, launched a driving maul that went 20 metres or more.

When it was eventually brought down by the Lions there was an inevitable penalty and from the attacking lineout the Stormers drove over for man of the match Paul de Villiers to dot down. The conversion made it 24-17 before a Smith penalty brought the Lions back to within four points in the 56th minute only for Matthee to get three points back for the Stormers two minutes later.

Then came another forward try, this time dotted down by Roos minutes after one from Ntuthuko Mchunu had been chalked off because the TMO had spotted obstruction. That made it 34-20 to the Stormers and you’d have expected them to draw away from what should have been a demoralised Lions team from that point.

It didn’t happen because even when they were so clearly physically dominant they still made mistakes and frankly just managed the game poorly. Game management has been one of their strengths until now, so it was quite surprising that they kept allowing the Lions chances to level the game after the Johannesburg team had been brought back to within seven points by an excellent try to wing Kelly Mpeku, who ran onto a kick for his team’s third try.

In the end the Lions had to be content with the losing bonus point but it could so easily have been an extra two for the draw, thanks in part to them raising their game and in part to the Stormers just being incredibly sloppy.

SCORES

DHL Stormers 34 - Tries: Dylan Maart, Wandisile Simelane, Paul de Villiers and Evan Roos; Conversions: Jurie Matthee 4; Conversions: Jurie Matthee 2.

Lions 27 - Tries: Ruan Venter 2 and Kelly Mpeku, Conversions: Chris Smith 3; Penalties: Chris Smith 2.