Stormers still alive but injury list becoming a concern

If the DHL Stormers didn’t already know what they needed to work on to challenge for Super Rugby silverware they would have had they listened to Crusaders coach Scott Robertson speak at the post-match press conference following the Newlands draw.

“The intensity of the Stormers’ defence was incredible and this game showed just how tough it is to come here and win,” said Robertson after the 19-all stalemate in a tightly fought and enthralling game that probably delivered the right result.

“If the Stormers can replicate that they have a good chance (in a tightly contested conference). For them to really compete though they need to improve their away form. They have only won one or two games on the road in the last two years. To be a top team you need to be good away from home too. If the Stormers replicate this intensity in away games they would be a top team.

“They also need to score tries. We played two draws in the last few weeks against South African teams (the Sharks being the other) where the opposition defence was outstanding and their kickers were good enough to keep them in the game. If they improve their attack they will be a proper threat.”

No-one needs to be reminded that the attacking aspect has been what has prevented the Stormers from kicking on this season. Their defence has improved immeasurably since Norman Laker was introduced to the mix and a decision was made to inject more physicality into the defensive effort, but the excellent defence has been left unrewarded largely because of poor finishing.

BEST DEFENSIVE SYSTEM IN THE COMPETITION

Not that the Crusaders game should really be seen as the measurement of the Stormers’ attacking progress or lack of it. As Stormers coach Robbie Fleck pointed out afterwards, the Crusaders have the best defensive system in the competition, if not the world.

“The Crusaders are the best defensive team in the competition so I am not concerned we only got one try agains them,” said Fleck.

“It’s not about the midfield, it’s about collective effort. I knew that if you go wide against the Crusaders it is at your peril. We had a good look at what worked for us in the second half of last year’s game against them in Christchurch, when we came back strongly after a poor first half. We had to take them on through the middle. We got that right and it was why it was such a tight contest.

“We could have got a bit more reward here and there but generally I was happy. I thought we did really well to draw this game. The Crusaders are the top team in the competition by some distance and have been for a couple of years now. The guys put in a tremendous effort and it was great to get something out of it. Hopefully this will be a rubicon moment that will galvanise our challenge going forward.”

The Stormers have four games to play, three of them at Newlands, with the trip to Johannesburg to face the Lions in two weeks time looming as a significant date in their calendar. As the opposition coach said, if the Stormers play with the same intensity in their remaining games that they did against Crusaders, they will be hard to stop. But it is a big if and like most South African teams, the Stormers have been inconsistent.

WARY OF THE BRUMBIES' EXPERIENCE

In that regard Fleck wasn’t quite sure how to view the Lions’ 38-29 win over the Highlanders that preceded the Newlands game on Saturday.

“If you look at the results from the weekend they have not been good for our chances in the conference and the Lions win is included in that, but I suppose at the same time it should give us heart as it showed that the Highlanders are beatable,” said Fleck.

The Highlanders visit Newlands this coming week and the Stormers will be wary of experiencing another Brumbies experience. When the Stormers hosted the Brumbies last month they started out as strong favourites after beating the Rebels in Melbourne the week before, but although they dominated large portions of the game they couldn’t translate their dominance into points and ended up losing narrowly (19-17).

After doing the hard work and being rewarded with two unexpected yet potentially valuable points against the Crusaders, the Stormers know they can’t afford to let it slip by taking a backward step against the Highlanders, who haven’t enjoyed a great season by their standards.

“It was important for our morale to get something from the game and that is why we kicked for posts (to secure the draw rather than gamble on going for the win) at the end, but after playing like this we cannot afford to waste it by not pitching next weekend,” said skipper Siya Kolisi.

One thing the Stormers do know after this past Saturday though is that they are capable of competing with the best in the competition when they do pitch and, perhaps more importantly, when a bit of luck does go their way. Those who have been around the Stormers in the past week would have noticed a mood shift - it seems there is a steely determination now, particularly among the senior players, to go for broke and get the job done now that the business end of the competition has been reached.

INJURY LIST A MASSIVE PROBLEM FOR THE STORMERS

In 2012 the Sharks were poor for much of the season and then suddenly lifted, with their many international players in the vanguard, once they went onto a knock-out footing with six games to go. They ended up going all the way to the final, where they were beaten by the Chiefs in Hamilton after a round the southern hemisphere trip that had seen them in Brisbane for the quarterfinal and Cape Town for the semi.

One difference between that Sharks team and this Stormers team though is that the Sharks team of 2012 got players back into the system late in the competition, whereas the Stormers are now sitting with a fairly lengthy injury list.

Hooker Bongi Mbonambi looks like he could be in doubt for the rest of the competition after straining a quadricep muscle against the Crusaders. Fortunately Fleck doesn’t believe the injury that forced Damian de Allende off, and neither Eben Etzebeth, but he does have to rest De Allende a couple of times during the remainder of the competition.

He has been one of the better coaches when it comes to complying with the requests from Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus, so fortunately he will have Etzebeth, Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and most of his front row forwards available for the remaining league games provided they remain fit.

But with an injury list that includes Mbonambi, JD Schickerling, Salmaan Moerat, Chris van Zyl, Juarno Augustus, Dan du Plessis, Ruhan van Zyl and Sergeal Petersen, there are some areas where Fleck just can’t afford to lose another player. That particularly counts for lock and the midfield.

When it comes to the latter position the return to fitness of EW Viljoen, who has been out for several months, is timely and he could well be part of the Stormers’ match day squad for the Highlanders game.