The Sunday Mail
The Highlanders taught the DHL Stormers some invaluable lessons about the realities of what is needed against New Zealand teams as they rollicked to a massive 57-14 win in a one-sided Vodacom Super Rugby match at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on Friday.If last week’s defeat to the Crusaders was humiliating, this was even more humbling for the Stormers, who now must look back at their supposedly ground-breaking win over the Chiefs at Newlands three weeks ago as something that happened in a different age.
What would have made the nine try to two defeat particularly demoralising for the Stormers was that the same mistakes that were evident in Christchurch were there again, and although once again the Kiwi skill levels ensured that the hosts scored some quite freaky tries, the Stormers, this time, didn’t have the excuse of the rub of the green being against them early.
They were unfortunate, make no mistake, to concede their second try.At least in the sense of why the Highlanders were in position to strike for it.
Stormers prop Oli Kebble was penalised for upending a Highlanders player at the lineout, whereas what really happened was that the jumper came down on top of Kebble. He really did nothing to be penalised, and referee Glen Jackson, who had to whistle to the letter of the law, appeared to acknowledge that but felt he had no option but to award the penalty.
It could have been worse of course – Kebble could have been carded – but it is nonetheless an area of the game that needs to be looked at by the law makers as there is far too much grey area.
The net result was that the Highlanders had a chance to set up the attack with a penalty, and they made full use of it by exploiting some woeful defence by the Stormers to score through Waisake Naholo.
And that really was the crux of it – the Stormers may have had a bit of luck against them both this week and last week, but they contributed to their own demise with their errors.
Against New Zealand teams you have to make your tackles, you have to prevent them getting their offload going, and against the Highlanders in particular you have to make sure you don’t let them dominate the territory battle.
The Highlanders did that, and then some.
After a quarter of an hour the stats showed that the Highlanders had enjoyed 84 percent of the territory, and by the halfway mark it wasn’t much better, with the Highlanders being in the Stormers half 73 percent of the time.
The Stormers actually marginally shaded the possession count, so the 24 point deficit the Stormers faced after 40 minutes tells you they played too much rugby in their own half. The Stormers actually scored the first try, with their early good defensive work paying off when they were presented with an opportunity in the eighth minute.
There was a good offload from Eben Etzebeth and a strong run from Siya Kolisi to create the space for Nizaam Carr to go over in the right corner for a try that, with Robert du Preez’s conversion, made it 7-0.
That though was the cue for the mistakes to start creeping into the Stormers game, and it was bizarre how similar the next half hour was in comparison to the same period of the Christchurch game. – Supersport.
