Blues shock Stormers and pose some serious questions

The DHL Stormers' trend of winning while not playing well ground to a shuddering halt at a sweltering Newlands on Saturday, and in dishing out a comprehensive 33-14 lesson the Blues posed some uncomfortable questions that will need to be answered quickly.

What happens on the day that the Stormers are fronted physically given that up to now they've shown so little evidence of finesse, or having an innovative, sharp edge to their attacking game?

And what becomes of the Stormers on the day they run into a backline that properly knows how to put into use comfortable, go-forward possession?

Perhaps there are a few more questions that could be asked that appeared to get a negative answer in this game.

Such as what happens when you play some of the older players in too many consecutive games and, perhaps most pertinently, what happens on the day that you can no longer afford to look away from potential problem areas on the basis that you got the right result on the scoreboard?

Problem areas such as all those dropped balls that prevent the team from getting any kind of attacking rhythm, a flyhalf who tries hard but appears low on confidence.

MAYBE CHICKENS, OR SEAGULLS, CAME HOME TO ROOST

It may seem harsh, and perhaps it is because, after all, this was the first Stormers defeat of the season. And make no mistake, the Blues played exceptionally well, and along the way delivered an object lesson to their opponents on how to attack with ball in hand.

But the Cape team was so utterly outplayed in every facet of the game that there can't possibly be any sugar-coating of it. And it is hard to ignore the feeling that perhaps there are some chickens coming home to roost for the Stormers. Or maybe more accurately, given this is Newlands, seagulls rather than chickens.

In the sense that when you are winning the weak points aren't highlighted. And there are plenty of weak points once you remove the character aspect that had propelled the Stormers to the top of the log heading into this game.

It was a stiflingly hot day in Cape Town, and perhaps that can be seen as the genesis of the slumbering Stormers start.

The last time they played in conditions like these it was in Johannesburg two weeks ago and they looked short of a gallop there too.

Only they were much flatter here, and at least against the Lions they had the altitude as an excuse. In any event, the Stormers got away with it there because they won.

BLUES CAPITALISED QUICKLY ON A SLUGGISH START

The Stormers paid for their sluggish start by falling behind quickly. They were 10-0 down after just seven minutes thanks to an Otere Black penalty and then wing Joe Marchant crossed for the first of his two tries after a good initial break from fullback Stephen Perofeta set up the attack.

The Blues had the benefit of a penalty advantage from a scrum in the build-up to their opening try. Yes, you read that correctly. The Stormers never had the comfort of their usually dominant scrum in this game, and having the roles reversed was a sobering experience for them.

A 10-0 deficit within the first 10 minutes is a movie the Newlands faithful, normally accustomed to seeing their team win, has seen before.

It happened last year, on Easter Saturday, against the Brumbies - also a game like this one that most people expected the Stormers to win after they'd ended off their overseas tour on a rousing note against the Rebels in Melbourne.

But the Stormers came back to lose a close game then. This one never looked like being close.

The Stormers just never dominated the collisions and the gainline like they normally do, they gave the opposition momentum by missing tackles.

They missed about five just in the move that saw the Blues score a try on the stroke of halftime that snuffed out what briefly looked like a strong Stormers fightback.

That was after they had recovered from a 20-0 deficit, something they faced as early as the 20th minute, to cut it to 20-14 through two good tries to first Juarno Augustus, who went over off a forward drive, and then Sergeal Petersen who showed some zip in running off the first receiver to score two minutes before halftime.

Had the Stormers kept it at that score to the halftime hooter this game might have turned out differently.

But on an afternoon where they made some lamentable mistakes, they overthrew a lineout deep in their own half, the Blues got momentum and it ended with Marchant crossing all too easily for his second try in the right corner.

YOU CAN'T MISS THAT MANY TACKLES AND EXPECT TO WIN

Black's goalkicking boot was properly laced on in this game and he kicked the angled conversion to make it 27-14 and it was a killer psychological blow.

In truth though the halftime statistics when it came to the tackle count showed us that it was no less or more than the Stormers deserved - there were only 44 successful tackles out of 61 in the first 40 minutes.

The 17 missed in 44 translates to 38 percent of the tackles being missed. You are not going to win a game like that, and in the second half the number of missed tackles swelled to 35.

Let no more be said.

Or if something needs to be pointed out, perhaps it should be that the passion and character that was the trademark of the Stormers up to now, and saw them concede just one try in three starts at this venue before this, was absent.

Instead of closing the gap in the second half the Stormers saw the Blues extend it, with the visitors camping for most of the third quarter in Stormers territory.

They initially eschewed an opportunity to kick for posts, but when they found getting to the tryline was a trifle harder than it was before, they turned to Black's boot.

He kicked two penalties and it was enough to bury any hope that the Stormers might find some momentum.

It was game, set and match. The Stormers were never in it.

Some hard thinking is necessary during their bye week before they head to Durban to play the Sharks.

SCORES

BLUES 33 - Tries: Joe Marchant 2 and Dalton Papalii; Conversions: Otere Black 3; Penalties: Otere Black 4.

DHL STORMERS 14 - Tries: Juarno Augustus and Sergeal Petersen; Conversions: Damian Willemse.