DHL Stormers down Vodacom Bulls to secure home semi-final.

There was a lot of talk about nerves before the game, as there should be when the team that finishes third gets to play the sixth placed team and ostensibly has everything to lose, but if the Stormers were nervous they certainly didn’t show it as they controlled the game from start to finish.

If there was a game where the Stormers showed their growing pedigree, it was this one, as it would have been easy for nerves to get the better of them against difficult and determined opponents who had one shot at redemption following a disappointing regular season

Indeed, the Bulls scored a late consolation try, but consolation was the right word, for in the end the 12 point losing margin flattered them on a day when the home team could have won by a much bigger margin as the Cape side racked up their sixth consecutive URC victory against their arch rivals.

Didn’t use all opportunities early on

 Stormers led 17-7 at halftime, with the Bulls doing in that half what they did in the second, namely scoring a try right at the end of the 40 minutes. There might have been some consternation in the Stormers camp at that point as they’d wasted a lot of scoring opportunities, but effectively they made sure of the win in the third quarter as they opened up a 30-14 lead in the 61st minute as they continued their domination of possession and territory.

By then the record crowd for a Stormers match at this stadium was in full song and their team was on its way to next week’s semifinal here at the same venue against the Irish team, Connacht. Connacht gave the Stormers a home quarterfinal to aim for when they beat Ulster 15-10 in Belfast on Friday night.

The Stormers were superior to their opponents in all aspects of play, and they produced a highly disciplined performance in which every player played his part, but perhaps no-one was more impressive than flyhalf Manie Libbok. Some might have blamed Libbok for the defeat to Munster, when he missed kicks at posts, but in this game not only did he nail every kick, he was also the man who dazzled a Bulls defensive system that simply gave him far too much space.

Libbok’s ability to draw the defender and then put in an accurate pass was one of the reasons it felt like the Bulls were continually scrambling in the first period. The Stormers laid down their marker early, with three penalties coming their way in a dominant opening six minutes where the Bulls never saw any ball.

Dayimani got the ball rolling

Such was the pressure the Stormers were exerting that it was mentioned by someone in the press box that the Bulls had done really well to resist, and that was true. However, no sooner were those words out of the mouth than Evan Roos, who was also excellent in a tighter role than usual off the back of the scrum, put in the long pass that saw the Bulls finally run out of defenders and fellow loose-forward Hacjivah Dayimani was over for the first try of the game.

Libbok was on target with an angled conversion, which would have settled the nerves of many Stormers fans, and then again with a penalty that put daylight between the teams on the scoreboard in the 16th minute.

By contrast, Johan Goosen, playing at fullback because of the late withdrawal from the Bulls team of Springbok wing Canan Moodie, was jittery in trying to field the Stormers kicks, and was also wide with his relatively easy first attempt at the posts from a penalty.

It really was all the Stormers for the first 34 minutes of the game, and their coaches would have been frustrated with the number of times they set up scoring opportunities and were unable to take them. The Bulls struggled to get into the game and weren’t helped by the turnover penalties that went against them as the Stormers just set about suffocating their opponents.

Tactical kicking masterclaclass from Janjies

Let it be said that scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies produced a tactical kicking masterclass in that first half, while inside centre Dan du Plessis becomes more accomplished and more of a thorn to opposition defences with every game.

The Stormers’ lineout was also very efficient than, comfortably commanding their own ball. And it was after Marvin Orie poached a Bulls ball against the throw in their half that the Stormers got the field position from which they finally got the second try that they’d been pressing so long for when Leolin Zas, who did well in his first game back from injury, was set free in the left corner.

That was in the 35th minute and it looked like the Stormers would go to the break 17 points up. Given how the Stormers struggled with their line fever, it was a blow for them then that the first proper Bulls opportunity led to a driving maul try dotted down by Cyle Brink. The 10 point lead the Stormers enjoyed at the break was comfortable enough, but they would have been thinking it could have been a whole lot more.

Davids was also sublime and so was Willemse

They continued their dominance after the restart, however, and Angelo Davids, and there was another Stormers player to produce an outstanding performance, went over for his team’s third try to add to another three points from the boot of Libbok to make it 27-7. The Bulls did threaten when they lineout throw-ins in the Stormers’ red zone and after an earlier try, which was beautifully set up by Kurt-Lee Arendse, was disallowed, they finally got over through scrumhalf Embrose Papier.

That might have given the Bulls brief hope as they cut the Stormers’ advantage to 13 points but two further Libbok penalties pushed the Stormers, who came close to scoring a fourth try through the brilliant Damian Willemse, who chased down a Libbok chip into the corner and was only just denied by putting his foot touch in goal, out of range and into another home semifinal.

Scores

DHL Stormers 33 – Tries:Hacjivah Dayimani, Leolin Zas and Angelo Davids; Conversions:Manie Libbok 3; Penalties:Manie Libbok 4.

Vodacom Bulls 21 – Tries:Cyle Brink, Embrose Papier and Bismarck du Plessis; Conversions:Johan Goosen and Chris Smith 2.