Sloppy Stormers stay unbeaten; go top
SUPER RUGBY REPORT: The Stormers maintained their winning start to the season, but conceded their first points of the season at Newlands.
The Cape Town franchise won another sloppy game when they beat the Jaguares 17-7 in a wet Cape Town on Saturday.
The win was achieved through the physicality of their forwards and their famed defence.
Ruhan Nel scored a crucial try for the second straight weekend.
The outside centre, who notched a post-hooter winning try against the Lions last Saturday, struck after 53 minutes in Cape Town to give the home side a 15-point advantage.
The Stormers are the only side with a perfect record after four rounds – having beaten the Hurricanes, Bulls and Lions.
They have 17 points to lead defending champions the Crusaders by three and the Brumbies by four.
The Stormers host the Auckland Blues next Saturday while the Jaguares continue a three-match tour of South Africa by tackling the Bulls in Pretoria.
While the Stormers understood the need to play a more tactical game in the wet conditions, the Jaguares attempted to play too much ball-in-hand rugby and the litany of errors cost them dearly.
Both teams had their opportunities, but the Stormers scored the points that mattered – at that crucial period early in the second half and then held out against the hard-charging visitors.
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After an error-riddled opening 10 minutes, Stormers flyhalf Damian Willemse opened the scoring in the 13th minute – when the Jaguares were penalised for going off their feet in front of their own posts.
A few minutes later Stormers prop Frans Malherbe was issued with a yellow card for a ‘no-arms’ tackle and ‘making contact with the head’ of an opponent, who had his own head below his hips – a decision that will no doubt elicit much debate.
The Stormers managed to build some phases, but as has been the case all season, they failed to convert their many opportunities – ball control again one of their main problems.
The score remained unchanged till the half-time break, but five minutes into the second half scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies intercepted a stray pass near his own 10-metre line and sprinted 60 metres for the first try of the match.
As the rain started to come down, the Stormers got into their stride and after a series of powerful phases the ball went wide to centre Ruhan Nel, who found his way over between two defenders.
The Stormers brought on the replacements and the Jaguares started getting an advantage in the scrums.
A scrum penalty was turned into another dominant scrum for the Argentinean visitors, from which No.8 Rodrigo Bruni charged over to get the visitors on the board.
The Jaguares looked for a score that would get give them a chance of a late winner, but the home team held firm.
Man of the match: While neither was flawless, the powerful carrying of Jamie Roberts in midfield and the service of Herschel Jantjies at scrumhalf proved valuable. Captain Steven Kitshoff just had too much power for Santiago Medrano at scrum time and it wasn’t a surprise when Medrano was pulled from the field before a half-an-hour was up. The power of World Rugby Player of the Year Pieter-Steph du Toit also proved valuable. Our award goes to Stormers flank Jaco Coetzee – who carried with vigour and tackled with venom.
The scorers:
For the Stormers:
Tries: Jantjies, Nel
Cons: Willemse 2
Pen: Willemse
For the Jaguares:
Try: Bruni
Con: Miotti
Yellow card: Frans Malherbe (Stormers, 15 – foul play, no arms tackle and making contact with the head)
Teams:
Stormers: 15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Jaco Coetzee, 5 John Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Alister Vermaak, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Johan du Toit, 21 Ernst van Rhyn, 22 Godlen Masimla, 23 Jean-Luc du Plessis.
Jaguares: 15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Santiago Chocobares, 12 Juan Cruz Mallia, 11 Sebastian Cancelliere, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 Tomas Cubelli (captain), 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Tomas Lezana, 6 Francisco Gorrissen, 5 Lucas Paulos, 4 Matias Alemanno, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Santiago Socino, 1 Nahuel Tetaz.
Replacements: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Guido Petti Pagadizaval, 20 Marcos Kremer, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Joaquin Diaz Bonilla, 23 Matias Moroni.
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Egon Seconds (South Africa), Griffin Colby (South Africa)
TMO: Willie Vos (South Africa)
