‘I am at a loss for words’ – Stormers captain Moerat after La Rochelle loss

Stormers captain Salmaan Moerat was at a loss for words to explain how his team blew a 16-point lead to eventually go down 22-21 in their Champions Cup last 16 clash against French giants La Rochelle at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday evening.

It was a stunning fightback from the double defending champs, who still had to rely on Stormers flyhalf Manie Libbok missing a touchline conversion after the fulltime hooter to keep their hopes of the treble alive.

After the game Moerat was proud of the character shown by his side but disappointed with the outcome that saw them drop out of the flagship competition.

Stormers captain at loss for words

“I am actually at a loss for words really. I felt that we were in control for most parts of that game. Obviously they are a quality side and they showed that in the end,” said Moerat.

“I think we showed very good character for most of the game. I thought we dug deep and showed very good physicality because it was a massive pack of forwards we were up against and our scrum performance was good.

“But we let them back in with ill-discipline. We let our heads drop and it was just very disappointing. It is disappointing to let our fans and ourselves down, but we will get back up after this.”

The Stormers put in a good performance in the first half but missed a few chances that would have seen them lead by more than the 13-0 scoreline at the break.

A 45^th minute Libbok penalty put the Stormers into a 16-0 lead, only for La Rochelle to come storming back to lead 22-16 after 68 minutes.

A Suleiman Hartzenberg try in the dying seconds then gave Libbok the chance to win the game for the Stormers after the fulltime hooter, as he did for them against the same opponents in the pool stage in December, but this time saw his kick drift agonisingly wide.

Injury struggles

Part of the Stormers struggles in the second half could be put down to the raft of injuries they suffered during the game which stretched their resources to the limit as players had to shift into various positions.

They lost both flanks in the first half, Ben-Jason Dixon to a head knock and Deon Fourie to a knee injury, while wing Leolin Zas was also replaced at half-time with an unspecified injury.

Replacement loose forward Hacjivah Dayimani and Moerat himself then both went off for head knocks in the second half, compounding their situation further.

“We are praying that Deon isn’t too bad. We had a few head knocks, to myself, BJ and Hacjivah. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will have everyone back on the field,” said Moerat.

“So we did lose a lot of experience on the field, but in saying that I think it was a great learning curve for us as a group.”

La Rochelle captain Gregory Alldritt cut a relieved figure after the game, and he was grateful to have escaped Cape Town with a one-point win after his side went down by the same margin in their last visit to the city.

“I am very happy and proud of the team. We would have preferred not to have that suspense at the end but we are happy with the win,” said Alldritt.

“We showed a lot of character. It is a competition that we love and we wanted to play another game next week, so we showed a lot of determination in the second half.”