Fleck hails Stormers' composure
The match at Newlands, which the Stormers won 31-11, had a lot of niggle and few heated moments, one of which resulted in a red card for Brumbies hooker Josh Mann-Rea for punching Stormers prop Oliver Kebble in the second half.
The Brumbies were also lucky not to have Joe Tomane sent off in the first half after he slapped Stormers wing Dillyn Leyds in the face.
"We always knew it was going to be a physical and confrontational," said Fleck after the game.
"If you remember back to last year, both games were really intense and in your face and we know the Brumbies thrive on their physicality – and we had to step up, but show immense composure.
"When there was a bit of niggle I thought our players were in control of themselves and I thought Juan's [De Jongh] communication with the ref was excellent – our boys showed a lot of maturity. I guess we got under their skins and they lost a few heated moments."
Besides their composure, the Cape side's superior kicking game on Saturday put the Brumbies under pressure throughout the game and played a key part in their victory.
"It [kicking game] was much better than what it has been in the past.
"We had one week to prepare for this tactic against them and it worked in our favour. There were a lot of attacking kicks and a lot of contestable kicks to try and turn their big backs around.
"We tried to isolate their fullback quite a bit and it certainly worked at stages, but it is still a work in progress for us," Fleck added.
The Stormers' forwards often get all the praise for their success, but this time Fleck set aside a few words for his backline.
"We can't just single out the pack – our backs had to fight against some quality Wallabies, who are twice the size of some our boys.
"The attitude of our backs was excellent. The boys climbed in, they tackled and they ran hard. Yes, there was some mistakes – it was not going to be 100 percent right all the time, but overall it was a good performance," said Fleck.
By Warren Fortune
@FortuneWarren
@rugby365com
