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Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town - Given the array of adverse circumstances, it is difficult to recall a better - or at least more famous - victory on the road by the Stormers than their heroic 28-26 one in miserable Auckland on Friday.
GALLERY: Blues v Stormers
Even before you discuss their crippling personnel disruptions both before and during the pulsating Super Rugby encounter with New Zealand conference leaders the Blues, it is instructive to contemplate just how down and out Schalk Burger’s troops had seemed as the teams switched ends at Eden Park.
They were trailing by an ominous 19-3 in the greasy conditions, whilst making potentially crippling and demoralising errors despite general dominance of proceedings in key respects, and still had two or three minutes to endure of being reduced to 14 men because of Francois Louw’s sin-binning after some 33 minutes.
But in a staggering turning of the tables on what had transpired a week earlier against the Chiefs, when they were the ones to infuriatingly let fritter away a 20-3 lead at the interval, the Stormers summoned quite vintage, bloody-minded character to snatch a priceless four log points in the country’s most populous city – one that is fast becoming a bit of a pleasurable hunting ground for them.
Let’s face it, the consequences of a third loss on the trot would have been almost too awful to mull over, with first-choice players continuing to fall like swatted flies and the serious risk developing of their four-match overseas tour turning into a collective horror show.
It is true that on paper the “easier” fixtures were always likely to be the closing two against the Brumbies and Rebels in Australia, but what price might the Stormers have paid psychologically if their stirring fight-back against the Blues – culminating in Burger’s crucially converted try with a minute left, their first experience of the lead on the night – had ultimately come to nought?
Mental as well as physical fatigue might have set in, and even the brace of Aussie games suddenly turned into perilous affairs as the Capetonians lost further touch with the overall pace-setters in this season’s expanded competition and also ran the risk (later this weekend) of losing the SA conference pole position to the Sharks.
Instead they remain a rather more secure third now on the collective table, and also still in with a realistic crack at securing a treasured top-two finish.
And what wonders must now have been achieved, at a critical time in the programme, for the Stormers’ team spirit – especially as this landmark victory also represented a real triumph for their broad squad system as a battery of younger players emphatically stuck their hands up in the hour of need?
The Auckland second-half “jump leads”, you would think, will have reignited their all-round engine with a healthy roar after a couple of weeks of worrisome spluttering.
While they watch, with their feet very much up, the Sharks and Bulls beat the proverbial pulp out of each other on Saturday, the Stormers will be mildly heartened, too, by the fact that there is an eight-day turnaround until they meet the Brumbies next up in Canberra.
That little bonus is the least they deserve, and they will be comforted further by the likelihood that all of their street-wise, currently absent “10, 12 and 13” -- Peter Grant, Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie – should be in the selection frame for the limited Brumbies.
Mind you, coach Allister Coetzee and company will wrestle with a pleasant backline dilemma because the stand-in centre pairing, in particular, of Juan de Jongh and Johann Sadie were terrific against the Blues ... each got a vital try during the decisive, rearguard action.
Up front, meanwhile, flame-haired rookie loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff, still eligible for the junior national ranks, played his dynamic part off the bench in the late surge, not just in general play but also at the set-piece where his infusion along with Tiaan Liebenberg in the 50th minute appeared to stabilise an area where the Stormers were previously experiencing a surprising degree of angst.
But stalwart scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage warrants kudos, also, for the accomplished, unflappable way he deputised at flyhalf for the lion’s share of the game after Lionel Cronje – already the second choice in the slot – limped off with a knee ligament problem in the first half.
Duvenage hardly looked a picture of nerves as he also assumed place-kicking duties, and it was his no-fuss conversion of Burger’s 79th-minute try that put the cherry on top for the visitors and caused disbelieving Blues’ hearts to stop beating.
The Stormers will certainly be aware that, for all their governance of territory and possession, several aspects of their battle-plan were poorly – sometimes rank poorly – executed.
An especially notable area of grief was their usually sprightly lineout, where at one stage they were turned over three times in the Blues’ quarter in a six-minute period of madness.
At least, as with other departments, they progressively got better.
But what matters most now is that a seemingly tiring, focus-fading set of men suddenly have fresh lustre, and that could mean an awful, awful lot in the run-in period ...
Cape Town - Given the array of adverse circumstances, it is difficult to recall a better - or at least more famous - victory on the road by the Stormers than their heroic 28-26 one in miserable Auckland on Friday.
GALLERY: Blues v Stormers
Even before you discuss their crippling personnel disruptions both before and during the pulsating Super Rugby encounter with New Zealand conference leaders the Blues, it is instructive to contemplate just how down and out Schalk Burger’s troops had seemed as the teams switched ends at Eden Park.
They were trailing by an ominous 19-3 in the greasy conditions, whilst making potentially crippling and demoralising errors despite general dominance of proceedings in key respects, and still had two or three minutes to endure of being reduced to 14 men because of Francois Louw’s sin-binning after some 33 minutes.
But in a staggering turning of the tables on what had transpired a week earlier against the Chiefs, when they were the ones to infuriatingly let fritter away a 20-3 lead at the interval, the Stormers summoned quite vintage, bloody-minded character to snatch a priceless four log points in the country’s most populous city – one that is fast becoming a bit of a pleasurable hunting ground for them.
Let’s face it, the consequences of a third loss on the trot would have been almost too awful to mull over, with first-choice players continuing to fall like swatted flies and the serious risk developing of their four-match overseas tour turning into a collective horror show.
It is true that on paper the “easier” fixtures were always likely to be the closing two against the Brumbies and Rebels in Australia, but what price might the Stormers have paid psychologically if their stirring fight-back against the Blues – culminating in Burger’s crucially converted try with a minute left, their first experience of the lead on the night – had ultimately come to nought?
Mental as well as physical fatigue might have set in, and even the brace of Aussie games suddenly turned into perilous affairs as the Capetonians lost further touch with the overall pace-setters in this season’s expanded competition and also ran the risk (later this weekend) of losing the SA conference pole position to the Sharks.
Instead they remain a rather more secure third now on the collective table, and also still in with a realistic crack at securing a treasured top-two finish.
And what wonders must now have been achieved, at a critical time in the programme, for the Stormers’ team spirit – especially as this landmark victory also represented a real triumph for their broad squad system as a battery of younger players emphatically stuck their hands up in the hour of need?
The Auckland second-half “jump leads”, you would think, will have reignited their all-round engine with a healthy roar after a couple of weeks of worrisome spluttering.
While they watch, with their feet very much up, the Sharks and Bulls beat the proverbial pulp out of each other on Saturday, the Stormers will be mildly heartened, too, by the fact that there is an eight-day turnaround until they meet the Brumbies next up in Canberra.
That little bonus is the least they deserve, and they will be comforted further by the likelihood that all of their street-wise, currently absent “10, 12 and 13” -- Peter Grant, Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie – should be in the selection frame for the limited Brumbies.
Mind you, coach Allister Coetzee and company will wrestle with a pleasant backline dilemma because the stand-in centre pairing, in particular, of Juan de Jongh and Johann Sadie were terrific against the Blues ... each got a vital try during the decisive, rearguard action.
Up front, meanwhile, flame-haired rookie loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff, still eligible for the junior national ranks, played his dynamic part off the bench in the late surge, not just in general play but also at the set-piece where his infusion along with Tiaan Liebenberg in the 50th minute appeared to stabilise an area where the Stormers were previously experiencing a surprising degree of angst.
But stalwart scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage warrants kudos, also, for the accomplished, unflappable way he deputised at flyhalf for the lion’s share of the game after Lionel Cronje – already the second choice in the slot – limped off with a knee ligament problem in the first half.
Duvenage hardly looked a picture of nerves as he also assumed place-kicking duties, and it was his no-fuss conversion of Burger’s 79th-minute try that put the cherry on top for the visitors and caused disbelieving Blues’ hearts to stop beating.
The Stormers will certainly be aware that, for all their governance of territory and possession, several aspects of their battle-plan were poorly – sometimes rank poorly – executed.
An especially notable area of grief was their usually sprightly lineout, where at one stage they were turned over three times in the Blues’ quarter in a six-minute period of madness.
At least, as with other departments, they progressively got better.
But what matters most now is that a seemingly tiring, focus-fading set of men suddenly have fresh lustre, and that could mean an awful, awful lot in the run-in period ...
