Cape Town – The Stormers and the Rebels were worried if the pitch at the AAMI Stadium was going to hold up under the pressure of the scrums after it was re-laid following the scrum shambles in the Test match between Australia and England a few weeks ago.
But, in hindsight, the Melbourne side should probably have kept that old, cut up surface for the match. Maybe it would have given them a fighting chance against a Stormers pack who licked their chops every time referee Angus Gardner put his hands together to signal a scrum.
The Stormers front row had their way with their Rebels counterparts, which gave the Cape side the momentum to take advantage of good field position. In the end they scored seven tries in the match, and are now in a great position to make the play-offs.
The Stormers scrum has always been an important weapon but this season their scrum has blown hot and cold, and they have conceded quite a few penalties in this department.
But, last month during the June internationals, they roped in a scrum guru to try and fix a few things ahead of their important trip tour to Australia.
They wanted to be more accurate, but they also didn’t want to curb players like Vincent Koch and Oli Kebble’s natural instincts.
The results were there for all to see on Saturday, as former France tighthead Pieter de Villiers brought out the animal in the Stormers’ front row.
“We worked hard on our scrumming. Russell (Winter) brought in (De Villiers) over the last few weeks, so both Oli and Vince had a few extra sessions. By no means are the Rebels a poor scrumming pack, I just think ours was very good. It’s an area we wanted to target,” coach Robbie Fleck said after the match.
“We weren’t happy with how our scrum went in the previous phase of the competition, we were conceding too many penalties. We certainly pride ourselves on our scrumming and it wasn’t good enough over the last three matches.”
It also helps when you have the bulky frames of Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit packing behind you in the scrum.
The two Bok locks again put in an unbelievable shift on Saturday. Goodness knows where they got the energy from, especially after a tough series for the Springboks against the Irish.
There was some thought that the Stormers’ Springboks may be a little jaded after the Test series, and lack a bit of fire in Melbourne. But most of the Stormers’ international stars shone bright on Saturday.
“If you look at all the other games this weekend, all the teams that got their internationals back in the set-up played well,” Fleck said.
“For me, when your internationals are away, they are playing football at Test level and when they come back they bring a certain intensity to the squad. I always felt that they would bring the momentum for us.
“It was never a case of the fatigue factor. We went with that 6-2 split as well. Our focus was to dominate upfront and the bench played a role when they came on.”
The whole Stormers performance, though, was far from perfect, as they gave the Rebels plenty of lifelines in the match. The one-on-one defending is still a big problem, but their exits from their 22 is Fleck’s biggest headache.
Young flyhalf Jean-Luc du Plessis played really well on Saturday, and was a breath of fresh air in terms of his attacking play. But he needs to make sure of touch kicks.
“It was really frustrating, because we were dominant and we let them back into the game. The big area of concern for us was the exits. It happened against the Cheetahs as well,” Fleck said.
“The good thing about this team is that we talk about something we need to work on, they respond effectively. It’s by no means the complete performance, and we are going to keep working hard to improve.”
Meanwhile, loose forward Nizaam Carr will not be considered for this weekend’s match against the Force in Perth due to a shoulder injury he picked against the Rebels. There will be no replacement flown out to Perth, as Fleck is happy with the cover he has at his disposal. “We brought 16 forwards with us on tour initially, so we feel we have enough cover and will not need an extra player to fly out for this match,” he said. - The Star