DHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee was gutted for his players after their dramatic one-point defeat to the Crusaders on Saturday.
Having looked set to defy the odds and the weight of history – as a DHL Stormers team and a South African franchise – the Men from Cape Town went down 13-14 to the multiple Super Rugby-winning franchise.
The score was deadlocked at 3-3 at half-time, but the DHL Stormers were leading 13-3 shortly before the 70-mark.
However, a late Crusaders try, followed by a penalty goal in the 76th minute, saw the hosts take the lead and hold out for their first victory of 2014.
Speaking from Christchurch in the early hours of Sunday morning (local time), DHL Stormers boss Coetzee told www.iamastormer.com: “I’m gutted for the guys – the effort they put in… they deserved the victory.
“The game was there for the taking but it just slipped away from us in those final 12 minutes. In the end, some of our own errors cost us again, we left two tries out there for instance, but after an effort like that you cannot help but feel for the guys.”
One player who will be hurting more than most is experienced flanker Schalk Burger, who delivered an all-action display in his first Super Rugby appearance in New Zealand since 2011.
“I was happy with all the players, but Schalk, in particular, had a strong performance,” said Coetzee.
“He will be hurting more than most, but it’s up to us to get up emotionally for our next game – against the defending champion Chiefs just six days away.”
The result aside, Coetzee was happy with all aspects of the Stormers’ game, but he singled out the character shown by all the players who took to the field in Christchurch.
Of course, the DHL Stormers were chasing an historic Vodacom Super Rugby victory – the first for any Stormers team and the first South African win in Christchurch since 2001 (when the Cats won by a single point).
“I’ve said it before, but this team has immense character,” said the DHL Stormers boss. “I thought the guys were unbelievable in all departments out there in what was an unbelievable performance, but their character stood out the most.
“This team has belief and huge character. Looking ahead, it’s about taking all our (scoring) chances and recovering (emotionally) ahead of our next assignment against the defending champs.”
Injury-wise, Coetzee will be sweating over the well-being of three key men, hooker Scarra Ntubeni (calf muscle), prop Pat Cilliers (rib cartilage) and fullback Jaco Taute (AC Joint).
“It’s hard to say right now, we will know more on Monday about Scarra, Pat and Jaco.
“Scarra is the biggest concern at this stage – his calf muscle could be torn. Jaco, like with Siya Kolisi’s AC Joint, could take a week… or two… So he is 50-50 at this stage for the Chiefs match.”
I am just as disappointed for my team, but proud of the effort. They have improved in leaps and bounds from the opening week and will be pushing for a play-off spot come end of season.
We were the lucky recipients of a 1 point win against the Canes, I guess it cancels each other out. Chiefs will be much tougher next week and the Aussies are on top of their game.
Yesterday was probably the perfect opportunity to get 4 away points, not going to get any easier as the tour progersses
@ nortierd:
True, and whilst I am not one to point out inaccuracies in the match officials, I did feel that they missed some errors on the part of the Saders that led to some points, plus the Jean try that was likely scored in the earlier part of the move by DeKock but the ref chose not to look at that.
As you say you win some and you lose some, but I am gutted to lose this one.
No need to rush Taute back.
I think Jaco was having a decent game, taking full contact well, looking for some running, and his positional play was fairly good.
We are running low on depth, he is critical to the squad, we have the big Fijian but he’s not much bigger than Taute is, and Jaco has more skill on the ball.
We are starting to get a bit thin in certain areas, if Scarra is out for a while then Tiaan is the no1 pick with Deon as back-up, which means that Deon can’t focus on the 6 role, which is something he is doing really well at the moment.
Damian is doing so well at 12 that Juan must be getting a bit concerned lol.
If Pat can’t recover in time we can use Brock which is fine, the other 2 are real concerns at this stage IMO.
@ Stormersboy:
He blew a try that would have won the game.
@ kaksioek:
We made a few mistakes and he’s still off that form of 2 years ago, but i don’t know who else?
Nortierd
Let me beg to the difference;I predicted the Stormers to get better this season and they seemingly are!
Reason: the introduction of Neutral Referees system robbed the Stormers (and the Bulls) from easy games handed to the on a plate as was the situation last 3 season
I thought they played well yesterday against a team that boasted 6-7 ABs!
With Grant and Leibenberg in their lineup the Stormers will easily make the POs
“Scarra is the biggest concern at this stage – his calf muscle could be torn.”
An interesting statement?
Any forward the size of ‘scarra’ is not expected to last long in that big guys’ game of rugby, taking his high work-rate into account he defies the rule of masses impact actually
😉
Hondo wrote:
They might get better, but at their best they shouldn’t be a match for the Chiefs away. The big saving grace for them is that the Chiefs have big names still injured.
The Aussie sides look good this year, so beating the Brumbies and Reds away is not something a mid table team will easily accomplish.
The Crusaders are not just short on star players, they are short on confidence as well, yesterday was the day to get a win there, we blew it
I think the problem the stormers have on tour is that they are plying the second and third best defensive teams in the competition next. so they absolutely have to take the few chances they could get to score.
They stormers played all guts yesterday and with a lot of pride. I expect grant to be back next week. The problem is that something has to give. this defensive gameplan could work with some rotation policy and the way the stormers have been scrumming that sure allows the opportunity to rest a player here and there. maybe just load the squad with big strong guys.
Will be interesting
The Stormer supporters need calmets, they score so low any late 7 pointer can pip them. Until they learn to score 4 tries they will always have a big chance to lose in the last minutes by a desperate try
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