The Stormers, who promised so much but delivered only disappointment, ended their Super 14 season with a bang - beating the Cheetahs 28-22 in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

It saw the Stormers move up to 10th on the standings, while the Cheetahs were already consigned to last place.

Despite being a dead-rubber, the game had it all - passion, enthusiasm, great tries and fierce hits.

There was even a dust-up between Hendro Scholtz and Luke Watson - and clearly lots of animosity from the crowd, who let the Stormers No.8, Watson, know exactly what they thought of his outspoken and controversial views.

While the Cheetahs dominated early exchanges - both in terms of possession and territory - their insistence on playing an expansive game at any cost, played into the hands of the Stormers, who are past-masters of the counter.

The Stormers settled down, especially after their first try and started to dominate proceedings as the first quarter approached.

The scrums were a mess from the outset, with the Stormers winning a few penalties and certainly had the ascendancy in this aspect of the game.

Added to this, the Cheetahs were not showing the necessary respect for the ball and failed to protect it well enough - conceding too many turnovers and giving away too many penalties.

Chief culprit in this high error count by the home team was flyhalf Naas Olivier - who made a number of shocking mistakes.

The errors, by the Cheetahs, played into the hands of a charged-up Stormers team.

The Cheetahs needed less than five minutes to open their account, with Meyer Bosman cutting the Stormers' midfield to shreds and scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius there to round off the move. Naas Olivier added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

And in no time the Cheetahs pounced on a Stormers error, a stray pass being hacked ahead, but Naas Olivier couldn't get the final pass away and the move stopped metres short of the Stormers line.

The Stormers were next to score, completely against the run of play, when the Cheetahs spilled a ball on attack deep inside Stormers territory and from the counter Dylan des Fountain scored a stunning try. Willem de Waal squared the game up at 7-all with the conversion.

And another Cheetahs mistake, with prop Kobus Calldo offside at a kick ahead, gifted De Waal a shot at goal towards the end of the first quarter. He made no mistake and the Stormers hit the lead 10-7.

The Stormers, from another Cheetahs error, Willem de Waal launched a cross-field kick and Gcobani Bobo and Jongi Nokwe went up in the air in the Cheetahs' ingoal area. Bobo appeared to win the contest, but the TMO ruled that he had knocked the ball on.

Joe Pietersen had a drop-goal attempt just on the half-hour, but that drifted wide as the two teams kept going at each other at 1200-miles and hour.

Another penalty against Calldo, in the 33rd minute, gave De Waal a shot at goal, but it was wide of the uprights.

The next scoring opportunity, with just over two minutes of the half left on the clock, came from a penalty for offside by the Stormers. Olivier slotted the penalty to level the scores up at 10-all.

And the half ended with a bit of Joe Pietersen magic, as he handed off Jongi Nokwe for his team's second try. The conversion by De Waal was good and the Stormers took a 17-10 lead into the break.

The second half started with another scrum penalty against the Cheetahs, Calldo again being penalised, and De Waal slotted to give the Stormers a 10-point lead - 20-10.

Another penalty against the Cheetahs, this time at a ruck, gave De Waal his next scoring opportunity, slotting it to make it 23-10 in the 55th minute.

And the Stormers rout continued with Pietersen's second try of the game - coming from some great interplay by the Stormers by the back three. The conversion was wide, but at 28-10 the Cheetahs were left with a huge mountain to climb.

The Cheetahs now seemed to lose their composure completely and continued to make silly errors that gifted the Stormers scoring opportunities.

Knowing that their only way back into the game was the high-risk, all-out attack option.

But this continued to play onto the hands of a Stormers team looking in complete control.

With five minutes left on the clock the Cheetahs got some reward, a try to replacement Nico Breedt. Olivier's conversion made it 17-28 - giving the Cheetahs just a sniff of a comeback.

However, their high error rate continued to cost them.

However, there was some late reward for the Cheetahs - with lock David de Villiers strolling over for a try after the full-time hooter had sounded. The conversion was wide - giving the Stormers a 28-22 win.

Man of the match: There was an enormous confrontational battle between the tight forwards, with the scrums almost decisive in this contest. Wikus Blaauw was immensely strong in the scrums for the Stormers and a rock on defence, while WP Nel made a huge difference when he came on as a second-half replacement at tighthead for the Cheetahs. However, our award goes to Stormers fullback Joe Pietersen, who again showed the magic that was missing from the Stormers all season.

The scorers:

For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Pretorius, Breedt, De Villiers
Cons: Olivier 2
Pen: Olivier

For the Stormers:
Tries: Des Fountain, Pietersen 2
Cons: De Waal 2
Pens: De Waal 3

Teams:

Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Danwel Demas, 13 Corné Uys, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Hendro Scholtz, 7 Juan Smith (captain), 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 David de Villiers, 4 Wayne van Heerden, 3 Kobus Calldo, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 WP Nel, 18 Nico Breedt, 19 Kabamba Floors, 20 Gerrie Odendaal, 21 JW Jonker, 22 Fabian Juries.

Stormers: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gcobani Bobo, 13 Dylan des Fountain, 12 Peter Grant, 11 Sireli Naqelevuki, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Luke Watson (captain), 7 Duane Vermeulen, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 AJ Venter, 4 Hilton Lobberts, 3 Brock Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wikus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Martin Muller, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Morgan Newman, 22 Tonderai Chavhanga.

365

RSS
Digg
de.li.cious
facebook