Stormers' backs need to come to the party

SUPER RUGBY REACTION: The Stormers will need more than just a powerful forward pack to reach the play-offs in this year’s Super Rugby competition.

The Stormers were dominant up front against the Hurricanes in Wellington, but they could not turn that advantage into a win with the home side holding on for 34-28 win.

After the match, Fleck admitted that it was always the plan to use their forwards to bully the Hurricanes, which also laid the platform for their three tries.

However, the Stormers fell well short in other areas of the game, especially with their backline play.

They looked unimaginative on attack and flyhalf Jean-Luc du Plessis failed to stamp his authority on the game with poor decision-making and some wayward kicking.

“We are just frustrated. That’s the one we wanted really badly and I think we let ourselves down in the second half,” Fleck told reporters after the match.

“It was a game we probably should have won.

“In terms of the effort, it was outstanding. In terms of the plan, it was really good, but I think our kicking game just let us down at the end.

Fleck added: “We are just really disappointed that we didn’t get a real grip on the game when the opportunities were there.

“A couple of injuries up front was a bit of disruption for us and slowed our momentum down.

“We really finished strong in that first half and we felt that the plan was going really well.

“To be honest there are a lot more positives than negatives. The only negative that I can think of at the moment is just our kicking game.”

The Stormers will face the Blues in Auckland next weekend and Fleck believes a change of game plan will be needed.

“We will do our work on the Blues this week and come up with another plan. Our plan was to target the Canes up front and it certainly worked.

“We got a number of penalties in our favour at the maul and we scored from the maul. We got a number of penalties from the scrum and when we carried well we got some ascendency there.”

By Warren Fortune
@FortuneWarren
@rugby365com