The Stormers took an early lead over the weekend when Joe Pietersen slotted a penalty from near the sideline to give the Stormers a 3 point lead over the Lions, 3 minutes into the game. The Lions levelled the score shortly thereafter, but their ill discipline at the breakdown allowed the Stormers to start building their lead, through some accurate kicking from Joe Pietersen early on.
The Stormers then added to their growing lead by scoring 2 converted tries within 4 minutes. The first of which came when Juan de Jongh passed as Habana drifted into a gap. Habana broke the Lions’ line, drew the last defender and passed to Joe Pietersen, who crossed the chalk for the try. Jaque Fourie dotted down the second try for the Stormers when he stepped through some very average Lions defence and went over, under the uprights, after a period of sustained pressure.
After the break however, the Stormers slipped back into old habits, allowing the Lions to claw their way back into the game, after Lions’ coach, Dick Muir, sent on a whole host of replacements. Michael Killian crossed the line in the 63rd minute, but it wasn’t enough to give the Lions a real chance of pulling off a win. The Stormers slotted over a few more penalties to wrap the game up and take the away win.
My two cents worth:
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The Stormers should have gone for the bonus point instead of kicking to posts at the end. It was within their grasp.
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I felt referee, Jaco Peyper was very inexperience, and it showed. But on the other-hand, there is only one way to gain experience.
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Joe Pietersen had a great scoop pass to Andries Bekker in the 39th minute of the game. His game seems to get better and better every week.
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The Lions spent a total of almost 5 minutes in the Stormers 22m area, and only managed to cross the line once.
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The Stormers missed 20 tackles in the game, with Tiaan Liebenberg and Schalk Burger missing 3 a piece, compared to the Lions’ 10 missed tackles. That kak doesn’t fly in Super Rugby. The Kiwis and Aussies will punish that sort of thing.
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In Schalk’s defense, he did make 15 tackles in the game, so that average isn’t bad at all.
Lions VS Stormers 2010 Highlights: [WRNrugbynews]
Scoreboard:
Just something I want to mention that I took out of the game. First half was very scrapy, but the Stormers did enough to go into the second half with some confidence.
Second half was a nightmare for them…they barely got the ball.
What everyone seems to over look is the fact that for 40min the Stormers defended. Only conceded 7 points. One would think that is a excellent stat, but one can also say that the Lions are super useless for not using their ball possession better.
If that was any other super 14 team, the Stormers might not have been so lucky.
@Pire, well said mate. They definitely need to up their game going forward.