The predictions that Swansea would host the game of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship weekend may have been right in one respect - you couldn’t get a tighter or more exciting contest than the 16-all draw fought out by the Ospreys and DHL Stormers on Friday night.
The Stormers looked like they had it won when they led 16-9 with four minutes to go but then came a driving maul try dotted down by reserve hooker Scott Baldwin to breach what hitherto had been an unbreakable Stormers defence.
That made it 16-14 to the Stormers and veteran Stephen Myler - he is 38 by the way - was tasked with having to kick the conversion from the touchline to draw the scores level.
The subtext was that the conditions were inclement, and had been throughout the match, but Myler, as both he and opposition kicker Manie Libbok did from the tee with every opportunity they got, nailed it.
There was one more chance for the Stormers after that as they built up impressively, but Libbok was fractionally wide with what would have been the winning drop-goal.
From there the Ospreys managed to get themselves back into the Stormers half, so even though the Stormers looked unhappy when the referee blew the final whistle and were arguing that they wanted to play on, perhaps in the end they should be happy with the share of the points.
It means that while they relinquish their record of successive victories, which stood at 14 before this game, they still remain unbeaten since their visit to Connacht as long ago as February.A tally of 15 games unbeaten isn’t anything to quibble with, and the Stormers should feel that although they had a great chance of winning it, they did well to get the draw in conditions that hardly helped the attacking game they are renowned for.
It really did bucket down in Swansea, as it can in Wales, and it is hard to remember a game where the conditions were worse, particularly in the second half.So all things considered it was understandable that some aspects of the game were a mess, and the 80 minutes never could match the expectation of former Wales and British and Irish Lions centre Jamie Roberts, who said during the week this would be the match of the round.
NEED TO BE ABLE TO PLAY IN ALL CONDITIONS
In terms of tension and closeness of the battle maybe, but neither side could really give expression to the running and handling game they prefer.
That said, the Stormers did produce the play of the game, with Leolin Zas switching off flyhalf Manie Libbok to surge through with a strong run before sending in scrumhalf Paul de Wet for the try.
It came in the 55th minute, just after the Welsh team had drawn level for the first time since the Stormers had taken a 3-0 lead after 12 minutes, and considering the conditions it looked like it might be the decisive score.However, the hosts fought back through a penalty to Myler before Libbok kicked one for the Stormers to restore the seven point gap (16-9) with eight minutes left on the clock.That looked likely to be enough as the Stormers’ defence had just been too good for the Ospreys throughout the game, but unfortunately for the Cape team the hosts got it together with their driving maul just when it mattered most.
The Stormers were always going to be up against it in the conditions, but they started well, and dominated the first quarter.On a day when the weather was different they might have built a useful early lead, but unfortunately, even though their handling and their ambition was actually fairly impressive given the slippery ball and surface, they produced three knock-ons in the first 10 minutes, and a couple more after that.
The Stormers dominated possession and territory early on but then the Ospreys, who had made eight changes since their away defeat to Ulster, most of those being returning internationals, started to come back into it and then even start taking control of the scrums and other aspects of forward play.Indeed, the Stormers did well to thwart a period of sustained pressure from the Ospreys just before the break to hold onto their 6-3 lead at the halfway mark.
It is true that if you want to be the real deal in this competition you need to be able to play in all conditions, but the Stormers didn’t field their strongest team and had to contend with a determined Ospreys team that has knocked over many a big team on their home ground and is more used to the weather encountered in the game.That being true, Stormers coach John Dobson might be happy with the two points once he has come to terms with the fact that it looked like being twice that number of log points until the final four minutes of the game.ScoresOspreys 16 - Try:
Scott Baldwin, conversion:Stephen Myler; Penalties:Stephen Myler 3.DHL Stormers 16 - Try:Paul de Wet, Conversion:Manie Libbok; Penalties:Manie Libbok 3.