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Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town – Even in the Stormers camp, you suspect, there had been some pre-match trepidation that the Sharks would come to Newlands unusually hell-bent on settling a Super Rugby score.
But such fears came to nought on Saturday night as Schalk Burger’s men only won more convincingly in every respect than many good judges would have anticipated – it was certainly a notch or two up on their tighter, earlier triumph in Durban so this was a derby double of great satisfaction to the 45 000-plus who turned out at Newlands to see it clinched.
And at the media conference afterwards, the normally measured, diplomatic Sharks coach John Plumtree was unusually blunt and candid in his assessment of the 20-point hiding.
All the pre-match hype had surrounded the Sharks’ very likely, no-frills plans to hit their Cape rivals with a collective battering ram, including a supposed physical presence off the bench in the second half to make the heat even more unbearable for their old coastal foes.
Instead Sharks juggernauts like Beast Mtawarira, Willem Alberts and substitutes Bismarck du Plessis and Jean Deysel found themselves mostly progressing sideways, at best, or just as often being smashed back by a blanket-like, unrelenting Stormers defence that even eclipsed their known lofty standards at times.
Mind you, to talk of “defence” as a key catch-phrase from a Stormers perspective would be misleading and unjust, because that makes it sound as if the Sharks bossed field position.
Far from it: their own forays into the Stormers’ 22 were desperately few and far between, and the visitors found that trying to build phase-play was a notably unrewarding pursuit – they simply couldn’t make the phenomenon happen.
Let’s not forget that the home side even had the audacity, considering that there was widespread expectation of a close-quarters slugfest under lights, to pull off the four-try bonus point.
They achieved this by slicing the Sharks’ midfield (quite widely perceived as a problem area even before they boarded the plane from Durban) to shreds in the first half for a trio of touchdowns, and then placing the cherry on top some six minutes before the end by engineering a concerted maul that led to terrier-like Deon Fourie powering over to complete the Currie Cup champions’ misery.
With this handsome five-point haul the Stormers – now running second to the Blues overall -- have swelled their SA conference lead over the second-placed Sharks to eight points, and with a game in hand.
Some consolation for the currently tail-between-legs visitors is that perhaps the situation is not quite as irretrievable as it may appear: next week the Crusaders are in town to tackle the Stormers and Burger’s troops will have to front up once more to as stern an examination as exists in the game.
The Sharks, by contrast, have a home game against the Brumbies, followed immediately afterwards by the guaranteed four points another bye will bring.
It is then that the Stormers only begin their four-match overseas tour, so the potential for topsy-turvy developments in the SA conference over the coming weeks certainly remains.
But Plumtree was full of generosity for the log-leaders, even as he rather bitterly judged his own players.
The big New Zealander basically conceded that South African bragging rights in terms of physicality had now shifted to Cape Town.
“They had a better attitude than us: they wanted to smash us, really. It hurts what happened out there.
“We’re disappointed with ourselves – it was boys against men. We’re a proud team but we’ve been embarrassed.
“Our attitude is not right and we have to look at it.”
Asked whether the Sharks remained realistic contenders to win the SA conference, Plumtree said acidly: “Based on that performance (by the Sharks) I’d say they’re home and hosed.
“It will take a really complete side to knock over the Stormers.”
Cape Town – Even in the Stormers camp, you suspect, there had been some pre-match trepidation that the Sharks would come to Newlands unusually hell-bent on settling a Super Rugby score.
But such fears came to nought on Saturday night as Schalk Burger’s men only won more convincingly in every respect than many good judges would have anticipated – it was certainly a notch or two up on their tighter, earlier triumph in Durban so this was a derby double of great satisfaction to the 45 000-plus who turned out at Newlands to see it clinched.
And at the media conference afterwards, the normally measured, diplomatic Sharks coach John Plumtree was unusually blunt and candid in his assessment of the 20-point hiding.
All the pre-match hype had surrounded the Sharks’ very likely, no-frills plans to hit their Cape rivals with a collective battering ram, including a supposed physical presence off the bench in the second half to make the heat even more unbearable for their old coastal foes.
Instead Sharks juggernauts like Beast Mtawarira, Willem Alberts and substitutes Bismarck du Plessis and Jean Deysel found themselves mostly progressing sideways, at best, or just as often being smashed back by a blanket-like, unrelenting Stormers defence that even eclipsed their known lofty standards at times.
Mind you, to talk of “defence” as a key catch-phrase from a Stormers perspective would be misleading and unjust, because that makes it sound as if the Sharks bossed field position.
Far from it: their own forays into the Stormers’ 22 were desperately few and far between, and the visitors found that trying to build phase-play was a notably unrewarding pursuit – they simply couldn’t make the phenomenon happen.
Let’s not forget that the home side even had the audacity, considering that there was widespread expectation of a close-quarters slugfest under lights, to pull off the four-try bonus point.
They achieved this by slicing the Sharks’ midfield (quite widely perceived as a problem area even before they boarded the plane from Durban) to shreds in the first half for a trio of touchdowns, and then placing the cherry on top some six minutes before the end by engineering a concerted maul that led to terrier-like Deon Fourie powering over to complete the Currie Cup champions’ misery.
With this handsome five-point haul the Stormers – now running second to the Blues overall -- have swelled their SA conference lead over the second-placed Sharks to eight points, and with a game in hand.
Some consolation for the currently tail-between-legs visitors is that perhaps the situation is not quite as irretrievable as it may appear: next week the Crusaders are in town to tackle the Stormers and Burger’s troops will have to front up once more to as stern an examination as exists in the game.
The Sharks, by contrast, have a home game against the Brumbies, followed immediately afterwards by the guaranteed four points another bye will bring.
It is then that the Stormers only begin their four-match overseas tour, so the potential for topsy-turvy developments in the SA conference over the coming weeks certainly remains.
But Plumtree was full of generosity for the log-leaders, even as he rather bitterly judged his own players.
The big New Zealander basically conceded that South African bragging rights in terms of physicality had now shifted to Cape Town.
“They had a better attitude than us: they wanted to smash us, really. It hurts what happened out there.
“We’re disappointed with ourselves – it was boys against men. We’re a proud team but we’ve been embarrassed.
“Our attitude is not right and we have to look at it.”
Asked whether the Sharks remained realistic contenders to win the SA conference, Plumtree said acidly: “Based on that performance (by the Sharks) I’d say they’re home and hosed.
“It will take a really complete side to knock over the Stormers.”
