The Stormers put in an impressive performance against the All Blacks, despite having minimal preparation time due to being in their off season.
Stormers captain Ruhan Nel marshals his backline during captain of their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour match against the All Blacks at the Cape Town Stadium on Friday night. Picture: Roger Sedres/Gallo Images
Stormers captain Ruhan Nel was a chuffed man at the efforts of his team after they gave the mighty All Blacks a big scare in the opening match of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series at the Cape Town Stadium on Friday night.
The Stormers produced an almighty fight to push the All Blacks to the limit, and heading into the final 15 minutes of the match were level pegging at 14-all, but in the end ran out of steam as the visitors powered away in the final 10 for a 38-21 win.
Part of that was down to the home team’s injury woes. After naming a 6-2 split for the game they lost scrumhalf Imad Khan to injury within the first five minutes, and Nel himself then didn’t emerge for the second half.
Reshuffle
Straight after the All Blacks retook the lead 21-14 in the 68th minute, the Stormers then lost replacement scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage, which led to a reshuffle that saw wing Seabelo Senatla slot in at nine, and loose forward Hacjivah Dayimani move onto the wing.
That, along with the game becoming incredibly loose, allowed the All Blacks to run in four late tries, after having been limited to just two in the opening 67 minutes.
“We identified the aerial game as a something we could impose on them and we did that quite well. We put some leather to the legs with our mauls and we got some reward with our scrums as well,” explained Nel after the match.
“Until the 65th minute I actually thought we had a shot. Even when we went 21-14 down we were still in it. But that’s a Test team for you. If you are not clinical enough they punish you.
“But none-the-less I am very proud of this team. With just three weeks prep we gave it a hell of a shot.”
Give it a go
Nel said he hoped that the other South African franchises would also be able to front up and give it a proper go against the New Zealanders in the other three tour matches against URC teams.
“Everybody has a different identity and approach. We know what works for us and that’s what they will have to do and play to their strengths,” said Nel.
“One thing we realised is the pace of the game is a step up from what we are used to in the URC. But we enjoyed that as well.
“They are the second best team in the world for a reason and we got to experience that and hopefully the other franchises and give them a run for their money as well.”
Veteran All Blacks centre Anton Lienert-Brown, who picked up a first half yellow card but was also named man-of-the-match, said that the win was massively important for the team to start their tour on the right foot.
“It was huge. What a fight the Stormers brought tonight. It was everything we expected and it came down to the last 20 minutes. We are proud, there were a lot of young boys out there, but we just did our job and finished it off,” said Lienert-Brown.
“Our discipline was poor, myself included, so we needed to be better in that space, and we knew if we got the ball we could build phases and score tries, which is what we did.”
