Tough Bulls win sets Stormers up well for second half of URC season

The Stormers picked up a crucial 26-20 win in their United Rugby Championship (URC) match against the Bulls at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night, setting themselves up nicely heading into the second half of the campaign.

It had been a difficult start to the season for the Stormers. After they won their opening two matches they went on their European tour and promptly lost their next four games in a row.

On their return home they beat Zebre, then travelled to England for their Champions Cup opener against Leicester Tigers which they lost. This was followed by a return to Cape Town where they edged French giants La Rochelle last week.

Turning back to the URC at the weekend, it was an extremely important North-South derby, with the high flying Bulls third on the log and the Stormers 10^th, meaning another loss for the home side would see them fall even further behind their rivals.

Strong scrum

The hosts lived up to the occasion, producing a superb forward-driven performance to clinch a seventh straight win over their Highveld rivals in the competition, moving them into the top half of the log.

“It was tough. Credit to the Bulls, they kept on coming. But credit to our boys as well. We matched up to them physically, but we made it difficult for ourselves with some silly errors,” Stormers captain Deon Fourie said after the match.

“I think we have been working really hard on it (the scrum), with Brokie (Brok Harris) leading the way there. We went up against a tough front row. Wilco (Louw), Akker (van der Merwe) and those okes are tough. So we will keep building on the (performances over the) last two weeks.”

The Stormers, however, still have one last game this year as they host the Sharks next weekend, and they will be targeting another win to continue their revival and keep climbing up the table.

“We have another big test against the Sharks next weekend and we all know what they can do,” said Fourie.

“We are definitely targeting the second half of the URC season. We didn’t start off well, but luckily it’s a long season and we are building up nicely now.”

Dayimani shines

A number of players stood out for the Stormers in the match, but one that wanted to make a big statement was Hacjivah Dayimani, who had featured mostly at flank recently but switched to eighthman after Evan Roos was ruled out through injury.

“Yeah I enjoyed it (the game). It was a bit personal. This whole week the build-up has just been about Evan Roos and Cameron Hanekom (bulls eighthman), so I thought this was a good time to put some respect on my name and show them what I am all about,” said Dayimani.

We have been working hard as a team. Our defence coach told us in the week that this game is very personal because we want to end the year well and then hit the ground running (next year). So for us personally we said we are going to dig deep and give everything out there.

“The support was great. I love the Stormers faithful and I really appreciate guys for coming out at this time of year.”