Bitter aftertaste for Stormers
The Stormers may have churned out another win against the Cheetahs at Newlands on Saturday, but they were by no means satisfied with the way they went about it.
After building up a commanding 16-0 lead at half-time the Cape side fell off the pace in the second half and ended up having to hold off the resurgent Cheetahs, which took the shine off and left them frustrated.
Captain Jean de Villiers said:”We selected the best team available to represent the Stormers and we won, so we are happy about that but we are definitely not happy with the way that we did it.
“I think our discipline was poor, our attack was poor, everything except the defence was poor. I think we definitely need to do a bit of soul-searching this week,” he added.
The Stormers have been incredibly consistent this season and have only lost one game, but they have not scored a single four-try bonus point and have not managed to put any team to the sword, relying on their defensive discipline to put teams under pressure.
They managed to do that in the first half against the Cheetahs and built up a healthy advantage in thr process, but they were unable to capitalise and De Villiers knows that standards will have to be raised if they want to continue winning.
“We are not happy, and if we play like this for the next three weeks then we are in for a rude awakening. Maybe it is a good way to get a wake-up and make sure that we play better for the next three weeks,” he said.
Coach Allister Coetzee was equally unsatisfied with the second-half performance but pointed out that his team remains well-positioned despite not playing their best rugby, and pledged to do some serious work ahead of the clash with the Waratahs next week.
He explained: “There are no excuses from us, not for the second-half performance. I am not defending the team, they know they were poor tonight and we will take that on the chin and move on but there is one thing that you have got to understand – this team is still winning and this team is still one point behind the conference leaders with plenty of rugby still to be played.
“We understand where we need to brush up and we are trying our best to get there, they are things that we can fix and we will certainly leave no stone unturned to fix it.
Coetzee said that his side will have to focus as they have two big derbies away to the Sharks and Bulls after the Waratahs game next week and they cannot let complacency derail their campaign.
“This is an important phase of the competition and the players understand that we can’t just go through the motions, thinking that we are right were we left off on tour. There is a difference between thinking and applying yourself,” he said.
The Stormers coach said that although his team have to improve if they want to be contenders at the end of the season, he was happy with the fact that they were able to win despite playing badly.
“We will take the four points but we are definitely not happy with the performance, but this is the nature of the competition and I would rather be sitting here than in the Crusaders changeroom today.
“These are not excuses we are making, but I accept the wins and I will take the wins over losing smartly,” he said.
Coetzee said that with Nizaam Carr ruled out with a fairly serious knee injury Canadian recruit Jebb Sinclair will start against the Waratahs, with Vodacom Cup loose forwards Nick Fenton-Wells and Don Armand in the running to make the step up to join the match-day squad.
He said: “I think that if you are a loose forward and you pick up a knee injury, then you prepare yourself for the worst. At this point in time he [Carr] has still got to go for scans, but I don’t think it will be a short-term thing.
“As you could see he [Sinclair] does play towards the ball as a No.8 which is a good sign, he is also a good ball-carrier so I think he will be the No.8 next week because we have got none.
“It is short notice so I think that we have to look at players like Nick Fenton-Wells and Don Armand for this weekend. Rohan Kitshoff is out with a shoulder injury in the Vodacom Cup game this weekend so we we will have to see.
“It is tough, we have got to make sure we field a strong side this coming weekend and cover all of the positions. We are playing against a top quality Waratahs side with a big pack and a side with a good set-piece so we have got some work to do,” he added.
By Michael de Vries, at Newlands
