The Stormers scored five tries and collected a valuable bonus point in their final tour match, as they downed the hapless Rebels 40-3 in Melbourne on Friday.
The Cape outfit had claimed two consecutive wins overseas, but they were searching for a crucial bonus point to try and push for a second place log finish – to ensure home ground advantage in the play-offs.
Mission accomplished.
Kurt Coleman was noticeably quiet at flyhalf last week against the Brumbies, but Allister Coetzee wisely decided to play Jean de Villiers alongside him at 12 in a mentoring role.
In the first five minutes alone Coleman was more involved and touched the ball more than he did in the entire contest against the Brumbies. The Stormers’ problem throughout the season has been their flyhalf taking the ball too deep, and Coleman was much flatter, although they did tend to again be too lateral.
There were no doubts abut his goal-kicking however, and he continued his good form in that aspect as he slotted three penalties in the first half and the conversion of Bryan Habana’s try.
Julian Huxley levelled the scores to make it 3-3 after 14 minutes, but that’s as close as the hosts would come – and that penalty was only via a refereeing mistake.
Chris Pollock had a sound game otherwise, but his handling of scrum-time disrupted the flow of both sides. Pollock’s call of ‘Crouch, touch, pause, engage’ was far too laboured, and led to three free-kicks against either side in the opening 14 minutes.
When Pollock did officiate that area properly, the visitors took advantage via Habana’s score. The simple and effective set piece move the Springboks have used since 2007 with Jean de Villiers used as a dummy runner and Ricky Januarie running off the back was straight out of the text book.
The Stormers led 10-3 after 18 minutes and two further penalties took it to 16-3 at the break, but they would have been upset they didn’t score more tries in the opening half against a side who’ve conceded 62 tries before this match. The Stormers initially played with intensity and at a rapid pace, but as the half wore on they tended to played too much from their own territory, while they weren’t patient enough.
They also committed too few numbers to the breakdowns initially, which resulted in slow ball at vital junctions. The Rebels weren’t organised enough to take advantage and steal much ball, but the laboured possession resulted in the Stormers just playing across field.
That problem plagued them early in the second stanza after a good backline movement, but no one was present to clean.
Andries Bekker was rested with Anton van Zyl taking over his leadership duties at the line-out. They missed one in the first half due to a bad throw, but problems arose when the Rebels thwarted the Stormers’ greatest attacking weapon, the maul. On numerous occasions they were turned over or isolated themselves as frustrations grew and Pollock issued many warnings.
After numerous line-outs and pressure on the line, Coleman finished after he spotted a gap.
At 23-3 after 54 minutes, they had ample time for the bonus point. Jaque Fourie then scored from the kick-off, Jean de Villiers providing the impetus by breaking the line, but still they made life difficult in scoring.
Eventually Nick Koster got the bonus point score in the 78th minute, all stemming from the most impressive aspect of their play – defence.
The Stormers now travel back to Cape Town and face a Bulls side high on confidence and hoping to exact revenge for their earlier defeat at Loftus.
Man of the Match: Schalk Burger has been his side’s best player on tour, and he continued that form again on Friday. He was physical and direct, the latter aspect something his side desperately needs in getting over the advantage line.
The scorers:
For the Rebels:
Pen: Huxley
For the Stormers:
Tries: Habana, Coleman, Fourie, Koster, De Villiers
Cons: Coleman 2, Rose
Pens: Coleman 3
The teams:
Rebels: 15 Richard Kingi, 14 Lachlan Mitchell, 13 Mark Gerrard, 12 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Julian Huxley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Gareth Delve, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 Jarrod Saffy, 5 Hugh Pyle, 4 Alister Campbell, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 Ged Robinson, 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16 Adam Freier, 17 Greg Somerville, 18 Kevin O’Neill, 19 Tim Davidson, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Peter Betham, 22 Afusipa Taumoepeau.
Stormers: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger (captain), 5 Anton van Zyl, 4 Rynhardt Elstadt, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Nick Koster, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Earl Rose, 22 Juan de Jongh.
Referee: Chris Pollock
Assistant referees: Stuart Dickinson, Angus Gardner
TMO: George Ayoub