Cape Town – Whether they have the strength of all-round game to be realistic, maiden Super Rugby title material this year remains to be seen ... but for explosive scrummaging the Stormers must currently be considered the most feared unit competition-wide.
It was the cornerstone – cynics might say “salvation” – of their characteristically bruising, tight home derby success against the Bulls on Saturday in which several other departments came up undesirably short for them yet a succession of largely scrum-related penalties while rumbling forward kept their noses crucially in front.
Just for one thing, Allister Coetzee’s charges have managed no more than a lone penalty try in the “tries for” column over the past two matches against the unremarkable Force and then their fierce domestic foes, raising some new doubts about their flair aspect.