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Stormers are very much still in it

rugby06 May 2019 08:12| © Cycle Lab
By:JJ Harmse
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Eben Etzebeth © Getty Images

The DHL Stormers’ challenge for South African conference honours in Vodacom Super Rugby was hurt by the defeat to the Jaguares in Buenos Aires but it was far from the death-knell to their challenge.

It is a sign of how closely fought - some would say mediocre - the South African conference is that bonus points have suddenly become such big talking points. It happened the previous week when the Stormers gave one away needlessly to the Bulls, and with the Pretoria team as leaders of the conference still just four points ahead of the Cape team, that gift point given away hasn’t lost significance.

At the same time though the Stormers pulled one back when they scored a try four minutes from time in Buenos Aires to grab a losing bonus point that looked unlikely when the Jaguares were awarded a penalty try and JJ Engelbrecht was yellow carded a few minutes before that. The Stormers could even have won the game had it not been for the lineout mistake that ended the contest when the Stormers were in a strong attacking position.

That last error was a repeat of something that has happened a few times to the Stormers in the recent past, with the stand-out costly missed lineouts that potentially cost the Stormers important away victories coming in Wellington this season and in Sydney last year. That what should be a fixable area of play keeps coming back to haunt him should be of concern to coach Robbie Fleck.

The Stormers haven’t capitalised on their away win over the Rebels at the end of their Australasian tour to the extent that they should have, and the loss to the Brumbies at home was a setback. It was always going to be a tough challenge against the Jaguares, who are no in good form, in Buenos Aires, but had the Stormers beaten the Brumbies - they lost by two points in a game where they wasted several scoring opportunities - the result wouldn’t have been as significant.

The crunch game for the Stormers is the next one against the Crusaders when they come back from this week’s bye. The champions are by far their toughest remaining opponents in a closing sequence that sees them travel just once - to Johannesburg - and play their other four games at Newlands.

If the Stormers beat the Crusaders, and at the same time the Crusaders beat the Bulls this coming Friday, they will be in the pound seats, although much could also hinge on how the Sharks go against the Chiefs in Hamilton this week and if the Durban side can follow up their unexpected draw in Christchurch at the weekend by at last finding some consistency.

There has been a lot of talk about what the magic number of wins is for play-off qualification and conference supremacy but in this season where most teams are losing as much as they are winning, there might need to be a reduction in those numbers.

Fleck said recently that nine is seen as the minimum requirement, which would require four wins in five starts from his charges in the remaining games. But who knows, it might need less than that as there isn’t any team in the South African conference with the exception of the Jaguares that has proper momentum. And the Jaguares are about to embark on a four match tour of Australasia.

The Stormers will welcome the break as they have faced a tough sequence since their first bye, which came after their third round victory over the Sharks. They came back from that bye to easily beat the Jaguares in Cape Town before embarking on a four match Australasian tour where for the most part they played well but just didn’t get the results until the good win in the final match in Melbourne.

Then came the home matches against the Brumbies and the tough derby against the Bulls, where they played well and were tactically on point, before they had to head overseas again for the Jaguares game. The Stormers finished strongly against the Jaguares but they must be close to running on empty.

Skipper Siya Kolisi was rested for the Jaguares game as was prop Frans Malherbe and Pieter-Steph du Toit should be back from injury after the bye, but the Stormers lost lock JD Schickerling and wing Sergeal Petersen to injury during the course of the Jaguares game. Outside centre Ruhan Nel was injured just before the Bulls game and will be out for some time.

In terms of what the Stormers need to do to get their game right, their attack is the area that still requires the most attention. They were again far too lateral in Buenos Aires and while the defence has been strong they have struggled to put it together when they do have the ball.

Against the Jaguares, like with the game against the Brumbies, the Stormers showed signs that they still struggle against teams that bring proper linespeed to the contest and are aggressive at the breakdown.

There have been unconfirmed reports that Fleck is under pressure for his job and that he was told before the Bulls game that he would be dropped as coach immediately if the Stormers lost, but given that the Jaguares were always going to be favourites on their home field it would be nonsensical for that to have applied to the Buenos Aires game, as indeed it would be nonsensical to drop a coach during such a tight conference battle.

The loss in Buenos Aires was anticipated and the Stormers were far from full strength. It was a close game against a team made up of players with international experience and who gave the Sharks 50 in Durban not long ago.

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