Stormers hold off hungry Lions
The Stormers remained the only unbeaten side in this year's Super Rugby competition with a tough 24-19 win over the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.
After 20 minutes you had probably written off the young, injury-decimated Lions, as the bigger, more sophisticated, more experienced Stormers looked on a comfortable journey to victory. Then in the next 43 minutes they did not score a point and when they did score a point it was a penalty goal. The Lions gave them what-for.
Over the whole match, and that included the period of Stormer hegemony, the Lions claimed 62% of possession and they forced the Stormers to make 120 tackles to their 44. Credit to the Stormers, though, they made the tackles and missed hardly any.
The young Lions certainly grew in this match and can go into the rest of the Super Rugby season confident in the knowledge that they are a fine side and that they have depth in their young men - Callie Visagie, Caylib Oosthuizen, Tian Meyer and Andries Coetzee.
For the Stormers, their unbeaten record is intact and at the moment unique in this year's Super Rugby but they will have the bruises to tell them how hard it was.
The Stormers kicked off and it took them 1 minute 10 seconds to score. Bryan Habana leapt and won them the kick off and they flung themselves into the attack till Tiaan Liebenberg bashed his way over. Joe Pietersen of the impressive boot converted. 7-0.
The Lions put the ball into a scrum and the Stormers won that rare rugby jewel, a tight head. The ball went to Habana who kicked, chased and dived on the ball just before it skidded into touch-in-goal. 12-0 after 15 minutes. Then Pietersen scored two penalty goals when Marius Coetzer was penalised at a maul and Patric Cilliers lost his rag with Eben Etzebeth. 18-0 after 25 minutes.
Pack up and go home. It was all over. But that was not the Lions way, not in front of more than 30 000 eager fans at their home ground.
They started bashing at the Stormers and found them mortal. The Lions had the confidence to tap a penalty five metres from the Stormers' goal-line and then the TMO was able to advise that Meyer had squeezed over under the posts. 18-7 after 30 minutes. Just after that the Lions went through 18 phases but the Stormers' defence held.
Two penalties early in the second half, one against Juan de Jongh and the other against Nick Köster, made it 18-13 after 46 minutes. The Lions then went through 20 phases and James made it 18-16 after 57 minutes.
The Stormers in this half only once looked like scoring a try and instead had to reply on two long-range penalties by Pietersen to make life more comfortable - 24-16 with two minutes to play.
The chance the Stormers had to score was easily laughed off by the Lions. At 18-16 the Lions were penalised at their posts. Dewaldt Duvenage tapped and passed to his right but Meyer intercepted and the Lions cleared.
With 20 seconds to play the Stormers were penalised. Goaling the penalty would ensure the Lions of a bonus point but they opted to kick out. They won the line-out and bashed and then, left-footed, Andries Coetzee dropped a goal. They got their richly deserved bonus point.
Man of the Match: The Stormers' tackling machine and fearless ball-carrier, Siya Kolisi.
Scorers:
For Lions:
Try: Meyer
Con: James
Pens: James 3
DG: Coetzee
For Stormers:
Tries: Liebenberg, Habana
Con: Pietersen
Pens: Pietersen 4
Teams:
Lions: 15 James Kamana, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Jaco Taute, 12 Doppies la Grange, 11 Andries Coetzee, 10 Butch James, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Joshua Strauss (captain), 6 Derick Minnie, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Marius Coetzer, 3 Patric Cilliers, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Caylib Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Jacobie Adriaanse, 18 Stephan Greeff, 19 Cobus Grobbelaar, 20 Ross Cronje, 21 Michael Killian, 22 Ruan Combrinck.
Stormers: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean De Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Nick Koster, 7 Duane Vermeulen, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Nizaam Carr, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Gary van Aswegen, 22 Gerhard van den Heever.
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Stuart Berry (South Africa), Christie du Preez (South Africa)
TMO: Gerrie Coetzee (South Africa)