Stormers fluffed their lines

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - MARCH 14: Siya Kolisi of the Stormers during the Super Rugby match between DHL Stormers at Chiefs at DHL Newlands on March 14, 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Carl Fourie/Gallo Images)

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - MARCH 14: Siya Kolisi of the Stormers during the Super Rugby match between DHL Stormers at Chiefs at DHL Newlands on March 14, 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Carl Fourie/Gallo Images)

Published Mar 16, 2015

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Cape Town – For about 20 minutes on Saturday afternoon in the bright sunshine the Stormers put on a total rugby exhibition.

They scrummed the Chiefs into the ground, their lineout finally got out of the ICU and the backline was running with freedom. And for a moment, most of the 42000-plus crowd thought that this Stormers team could actually be the real deal.

It turned out to be only a glimpse, a nice trailer of a movie that in the end seriously bombed because the director made a few changes to the cast that maybe weren’t necessary.

To be fair, some of Allister Coetzee’s leading men let themselves down by fluffing their lines in their 28-19 defeat. But maybe the coach should have trusted his protagonists.

Kurt Coleman produced a bit of a mix bag during his first start of the season. He missed touch a few times, and the Chiefs got a penalty on the stroke of half-time after the Stormers flyhalf failed to find touch.

Coetzee blamed this tactical kicking for their defeat: “The first-half performance was a massive positive for us. It’s just a pity that we couldn’t put more minutes of play together in the second half. A few things that let us down (on Saturday). Our kicking execution wasn’t good and to give them free possession like that, they will punish you and they did exactly that.”

But Coleman did bring that bit of spark that the Stormers backline was looking for. And you could argue that he was responsible for the golden period in the first half, along with the Stormers scrum, which resulting in a 13-3 lead.

The Chiefs, however, hit back with their fleet-footed backs, and took a 20-16 lead after James Lowe’s try in the second stanza following some superb running and offl-oading from a retreating scrum.

It seems a bit of panic set in, and Coleman was replaced after 50 minutes, as well as Siya Kolisi, who was playing some of his best rugby in the last two seasons. Demetri Catrakilis and Schalk Burger didn’t really make an impact off the bench, and the Stormers seemed to lack a bit of punch after that.

If a dynamic approach is the direction that the Stormers want to take, then Coleman should be given the chance to learn from his mistakes.

The scrum of the Stormers also lost its teeth when props Vincent Koch and Steven Kitshoff were replaced. These substitutions seemed to have a massive bearing on the match.

Coetzee, however, doesn’t believe his tactics led to defeat, and again came back to their poor kicking game. “Last week our subs, the same guys built on the foundation,” Coetzee argued. “(But) I really think substitutions weren’t the issue.

“A couple of kicks that didn’t go out, you give them ball, and it a critical error against a side like this. We didn’t get enough energy out of kicking game, and that made us a bit lethargic at times in terms of our kick chase.

“One or two kicks before half-time let them back, and we missed a hell of a lot of tackles. We are a side that play with ball in hand, and one lesson that we learnt (is) against a side like Chiefs, keep playing with ball in hand ”.

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