It was a weird feeling heading away from the DHL Stadium and hearing different names being blamed for a Stormers defeat. For once Jurie Matthee and Clayton Blommetjies, and not Manie Libbok.
Sometimes just not being there can help raise your stature, remind people of what you actually do bring.
And we’re not referring just to those missed kicks at the posts, with the normally reliable Matthee missing some sitters before Blommetjies, who is not a regular place-kicker, missed the regulation conversion that would have propelled the Stormers to seventh on the log and within a few points of the coveted top four.
That final missed conversion, with Matthee having been removed from the field when Stormers coach John Dobson made his substitutions, had huge consequences for the Stormers. It means that instead of challenging for a top four finish they are scrapping just for a top eight position.
Having key players out is not an excuse for defeat, although the Bulls director of rugby Jake White did make some good points afterwards when he blamed the non-stop 12 month season, and an average of one and half players per game being ruled out either through long term injuries or short term HIA related issues, for a situation which he feels isn’t sustainable for South African rugby.
The Bulls were also short of key personnel, not just the Stormers, who only had JD Schickerling and arguably Ali Vermaak missing from what otherwise would have been a full strength pack.
It was a home game for them, and like Liverpool, who got bundled out of the FA Cup on Sunday by lowly Plymouth-Argyle in a game where they fielded an under-strength team, they still had enough regulars in the match day squad for a win to be possible.
Which they showed when they scored what should have been a winning try with less than two minutes to go but then Blommetjies missed a conversion some others could have kicked blindfolded.
CAPE SIDE MISSED LIBBOK’S X-FACTOR
Maybe not Libbok, for it is true we have seen him miss some sitters, but where Libbok was particularly missed was for his X-factor in transition play and on the counter-attack. Matthee is a promising young flyhalf with a lot of ability, and may even be the best choice for the Stormers when they play games in typically northern winter conditions.
But he is not as suited to the Stormers’ playing style, particularly not in games where they are forced to feed off scraps, with their big strength being their potency when attacking from chaos, as Libbok or for that matter Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu would be were they present.
The Stormers got so badly mauled in the scrums that they should have been out of the game by halftime. Indeed, perhaps the most confounding aspect of an absorbing north/south derby played in front of an appreciative crowd of 50 000 was that the Stormers lost the key areas while playing with a more limited attacking team and yet they managed to score five tries.
Perhaps that is something for White to think about when he prepares his team for the return game between these sides three weeks from now at Loftus, but it also doesn’t change the central point about Libbok. Given that there may be people who question his value to the Stormers, this was a game where his value was underlined in indelible ink. For what the Stormers lacked in his absence.
LIKELY TO BE OUT FOR A WHILE
The bad news for the Stormers is that the key to their attacking potency is going to be absent for a while longer. A considerable while longer, for it has been learned that his knee injury sustained in the recent game against Leinster in Dublin will keep him out of rugby for the next eight weeks. And if he has to undergo surgery, he could be out for the rest of the season.
Even the best case scenario of eight weeks isn’t good for the Stormers if you consider that after their two tough away derbies on the highveld (Emirates Lions this week and the Bulls on 1 March) they head into a two match tour that could make or break their quest for a top eight finish.
They play Ulster and Scarlets, two teams just ahead of them in sixth and seventh respectively on the current log, and Stormers coach John Dobson is confident his team can win both those games if they have some of their injured star backline players back by then.
DON’T FORGET HARTZENBERG
Fortunately Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Damian Willemse should either be back or nearing their return by then, and ditto Suleiman Hartzenberg, who isn’t often mentioned in the same breath as the others but is every bit as talented and could become as big as them in time.
The promise shown by young players only just being introduced to the big time, and the experience they are gaining from being part of massive games like the north/south derby, is one consolation for Dobson during this period of intense pressure and the juggling he needs to do to face off the injury challenges.
Jonathan Roche continued his learning when he came on towards the end of the Bulls game, and he did well. Paul de Villiers was not there but is likely to be reintroduced for the trip to Johannesburg this week. The plan is unfolding when it comes to the long term view, but right now the priority for the Stormers is meeting the immediate challenge of finishing in the top eight.
After the tour the Stormers host four games at DHL Stadium against opponents they should beat, particularly if they are anywhere close to full strength by then, so the next phase, starting with the remaining derbies and extending to the tour, will be critical as an opportunity to set up a platform to strike off.