The Stormers once again were able to overcome a difficult period to emerge victorious and keep their unbeaten start to the season intact.
Rising loose forward talent Paul de Villiers and Stormers captain Salmaan Moerat praised their team’s ability to win with their backs against the wall, after they fought back from a halftime deficit to down the Lions in their United Rugby Championship (URC) derby in Cape Town on Saturday.
The Lions dominated the first half of the match, and the hosts were pretty lucky to only trail 17-10 at the break, before an improved second half performance, led by their ‘bomb squad’ helped them bounced back for a 34-27 win.
Former Junior Springbok De Villiers is enjoying a breakout season for the Stormers and has won a number of man-of-the-match awards this season, including in the Champions Cup last week against La Rochelle, and he was at it again this weekend against the Lions.
Come from behind
Asked about how they manage to keep responding when finding themselves behind, which they have done often this season, the 22-year-old admitted that it was only making the team stronger, while he also credited the Lions for making things difficult for him at the breakdown.
“For us it’s a massive learning. We don’t want to be in that situation every match, but to be in that situation with our backs against the wall and to really work hard to get the victory in the end, it only makes us stronger,” said De Villiers.
“We are obviously very happy (with the win), we didn’t start off well, as you saw, but there were some hard chats in the change room at halftime. I think how we came out and reacted to that was pretty good. So credit to the guys for that.
“They (the Lions) were good, I struggled to get into it (at the breakdown). So I had to help out in different aspects. I thought our tackle dominance wasn’t that good in the first half, but we got better in the second and that gave us momentum, so I was happy we could change that.”
Good fight shown
Moerat was also pleased with the fight shown by his team, and the way they managed to pull things through, despite not being at their best during an entertaining match.
“That was a typical South African derby. I thought the Lions were excellent throughout the whole game. They put us under a lot of pressure, especially in that first half,” said Moerat.
“I felt a lot of the time we were forced to exit, and didn’t play the territory very well. And unforced errors obviously (cost us). But other than that, I am really proud of the way that we pulled it through in the end.
When quizzed on them finding a way to win often, Moerat said: “I guess so. It’s not ideal. We obviously have a lot of things to work on, and we will have a look at that. But I am very chuffed with the character within the squad.”
