Bloemfontein – Rugby can be such a cruel game. The Cheetahs will be thanking their lucky stars today that Stormers flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis left the field with an injury at half-time during the teams’ Super Rugby clash in Bloemfontein yesterday.
Catrakilis has hardly missed a kick at goal all season and was again on the mark yesterday, but his replacement, Kurt Coleman, missed four second-half sitters – the last in the final minute which would have earned the Stormers a losing bonus point – that allowed the hosts to get away from the men from the Cape and ultimately win a tight and exciting contest.
The Stormers, who never led in the game, dominated the second period after changing sides 18-10 down, but only had a converted Duane Vermeulen try to show for those efforts.
The visitors created all the play in the second spell, dominated the scrums and won the penalties, but Coleman missed three shots at goal within 25 minutes.
And when the Cheetahs got a rare chance to score, they grabbed it with both hands.
Against the run of play, fullback Clayton Blommetjies burst through a gaping hole after flank Tienie Burger had won the turnover to put his side 25-17 ahead with 10 minutes to play. They hung on for the victory, built on a solid first-half showing when they probably played their best 40 minutes of the campaign.
After going 6-3 up after 20 minutes, centre Michael van der Spuy collected a loose ball and darted over for his team’s first try and only minutes later, Rayno Benjamin did brilliantly to gather his own kick after some outstanding work by wing Sergeal Petersen to get his team’s second.
The Cheetahs were in total control, playing all their rugby in Stormers territory.
There was an urgency to their game and plenty of confidence, but more impressive was how they pressured the Stormers with strong tackling and in-your-face action.
Stormers wing Dillyn Leyds gave his team hope on the half-hour mark after finishing off a great counter-attack by his side where Schalk Burger did excellently to draw two defenders before off-loading to his wing.
The try sparked the Stormers to life and they’d be rewarded in the second spell, their scrum especially powerful.
But Coleman’s missed kicks piled on the pressure and that was the difference between one team winning and the other losing.
The Stormers also lost Juan de Jongh before half-time, which didn’t help the fluency in the back division, while their line-out stuttered all night.
The defeat will be hard-felt by the Stormers, even though they still have a string of home games to come, while for the Cheetahs, the victory will taste very sweet after they pushed the Lions all the way the week before. – The Sunday Independent