The Stormers began their 2014 campaign exactly like Western Province had ended their 2013 Currie Cup quest – with an embarrassing loss. In the domestic decider at Newlands in 2013, stop-gap Sharks coach Brendan Venter schooled his Province counterparts. The lesson clearly fell on deaf ears as, four months later, in the first match following the 33-19 Currie Cup final reverse against the Sharks, the Stormers suffered an even more ignominious defeat.
This time, second-season Super Rugby coach Johan Ackermann was superior in ensuring that the Lions were the better team. The Stormers kicked off their campaign with a 34-10 loss at Ellis Park.
What must have been particularly disconcerting for Stormers coach Allister Coetzee was that an 18-month investment in attack-first, try-scoring rugby had resulted in one trip across the line against a Lions side that had not participated in Super Rugby since conceding 52 tries in 16 matches to finish last in 2012.
Not only was it the Stormers’ first reverse against the Joburg outfit in 14 matches since 2002, the 24-point margin made it their most emphatic loss against the Lions in the history of the competition.
Coetzee put it down to “first-game jitters”.
What followed proved that the problem was not with the players.
A one-point win against the Hurricanes at Newlands preceded the Stormers’ first five-game losing streak since 1998. A winless tour of Australasia, against the Crusaders, Chiefs, Brumbies and Reds, was followed by a 22-11 loss against the Waratahs in Cape Town.
Suspicions of poor preparation and a flawed plan were soon confirmed by musical chairs selections as Coetzee frantically pushed buttons and pulled levers in an attempt to arrest the Stormers’ sinking fortunes.
Only loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff and No 8 Duane Vermeulen retained their positions of choice during the five-game slump.
By the time the re-match against the Lions rolled round in week 10, the Stormers had accumulated sufficient injuries for Coetzee to hang his team’s 1-6 start to the season on bad luck.
The match took place on April 19, almost three weeks after Gert Smal’s appointment as WP director of rugby, and it marked the beginning of a tactical shift in the Stormers’ campaign.
In six of their first seven matches of the season, Coetzee’s team had kicked less than their opponents, but the 18-3 win against the Lions was the first of five times in the final nine matches that the Stormers kicked more than their rivals.
The Stormers won all five of those matches.
A 29-28 win against the visiting Highlanders was bookended by road losses against the Cheetahs and Bulls. Then, four straight wins against the Western Force, Cheetahs, Sharks (at King’s Park) and Bulls saw the Stormers arrive at the season-finale against the Sharks at Newlands with a chance to finish 8-8.
Unfortunately, the Stormers reverted to Hollywood rugby, running twice as much and tackling half as much as the Sharks, who out-kicked them by 32 to 23.
As a result, Coetzee’s team matched the class of 1996 for the worst finish in Stormers history (11th).
But, in spite of the relapse against the Sharks, the effectiveness of percentage tactics in the previous four matches had highlighted the naivety of the Stormers’ quest for tries.
In 10 matches during which the Stormers kicked less than their opponents, they scored 17 tries, conceded 22 and won twice. That’s a 20-percent win-rate at an average of 1.7 tries scored, and 2.2 conceded, per game.
In six matches during which they kicked more than their opponents, they scored 12 tries, conceded seven, and won five times for an 83-percent win-rate and a per-match average of 2 tries scored, and 1.2 conceded.
And, contrary to popular belief, the more structured and less off-the-cuff approach brought the best out of some of the Stormers’ most creative players.
Link man Nizaam Carr scored three tries in the final nine matches, and showed flashes of the toughness required of a top-tier Super Rugby forward, despite playing at No 6.
Juan de Jongh found his feet at outside centre and scored tries against the Bulls and Western Force.
And the attack-minded Nic Groom emerged as the clear-cut, first-choice scrumhalf behind a pack of forwards that suddenly had direction, purpose and clarity.
In 2015 the Stormers will need all three of these attributes to bounce back from two disappointing seasons, and that requires whoever is calling the shots in Cape Town to have a bit of tactical common sense. - Cape Argus