Bloemfontein – The Stormers will need to fix their game in a hurry if they want to reach the season-ending play-offs, rather than think of winning the 2015 Super Rugby championship.
After their shock defeat at the hands of the lowly Cheetahs who went into the match having won only three out of 10 games, the Stormers have dropped into an overall 7th place.
They do have a string of home matches ahead and their home record is excellent but this will not be enough to resurrect their fortunes.
In recent weeks, the Stormers have produced a champion scrum and they have a matchwinner in sharp-shooter Demetri Catrakilis, who cried off at halftime on Saturday after taking a few big first-half hits from the Cheetahs’ defence.
Catrakilis’ replacement Kurt Coleman had a nightmare outing and if he had been on target with at least three out of four goalable penalties, the Stormers might have edged the Cheetahs.
Instead he missed all four, and the Stormers came away empty-handed against a side that did without the services of several key players on the day.
The Stormers’ line-out is still a problem and that will have to be addressed to keep the team competitive.
Stormers captain Duane Vermeulen said afterwards: “It’s obviously disappointing and not what we wanted, but we need to learn from games and results like this.
“Some stupid mistakes cost us and, like I said, we need to learn from this experience and continue to work harder.”
Vermeulen also questioned the team’s approach which he felt had a hint of “arrogance about it after their morale-boosting win over the Bulls at Newlands last week.
“When I look back at the game there were too many chiefs, and not enough Indians (hard workers). Everybody wanted to give their five cents’ (worth) and that made it difficult to lead the team. That is where we lost it,” said Vermeulen.
“I think we pitched up (for the game) in a mental state, may be just a bit arrogant, after beating the Bulls last week, and thinking we’re playing the bottom-of-the-conference team, the Cheetahs.”
Cheetahs wing Rayno Benjamin, a former Stormers player, was named ‘Man-of-the-Match’ and he said afterwards the plan was to run the Stormers ragged at every opportunity.
“This team (the Cheetahs) have been through hard times but we continued to pick up our confidence,” said Benjamin. “We stuck with the basics and then our plan was to run at the Stormers with everything we had.”
Next week the Stormers will host the Aussie outfit, the Brumbies, at Newlands. – ANA