Stormers pay heavy price for Bulls win
• De Allende likely to be out for long period
The Stormers appear to have paid a heavy price for their excellent 37-24 win over the Bulls, with news that centre Damian de Allende faces a lengthy spell out of the game.
The Stormers appear to have paid a heavy price for their excellent 37-24 win over the Bulls at Newlands on Saturday, with the news that centre Damian de Allende faces a lengthy spell out of the game.
De Allende‚ who was in cracking form for the 63 minutes he was on the field, making 84m with the ball in hand and eight tackles‚ suffered an ankle injury in the second half of the Super Rugby opener.
Coach Robbie Fleck looked unhappy, despite the positive result and good performance, because of De Allende’s injury.
Fleck said he would wait for the results of a full scan on the injury before making a definitive statement about how long the Bok centre would be out.
But the initial prognosis was “not good”.
The Stormers have already lost Juan de Jongh for the bulk of the season due to a knee injury and with Huw Jones still on duty with Scotland in the Six Nations‚ they are thin when it comes to experienced midfield cover.
Former junior star EW Viljoen made his Super Rugby debut on Saturday and performed strongly‚ highlighting his pace‚ power and deft skills.
But De Allende was a central figure in two of the Stormers’ three first-half tries and was a constant threat when taking the ball over the advantage line against a strong defensive unit.
Jones returns to SA this week with the Six Nations enjoying a bye weekend‚ so he is likely to be drafted into the Stormers squad to play the Jaguares at Newlands on Saturday.
“Injuries are part of the game, but Huw Jones will join us for the next match before heading back [to Scotland]‚” Fleck said.
“EW had a good game and he made some excellent decisions in the wide channel. He stands up well on attack‚ looks for the offload and he was outstanding on defence.
“With Damian being out‚ he will now play a big role for us during the campaign.”
The Stormers raced into a 24-0 halftime lead with some of the most clinical play from the team in years.
But the Bulls rallied after the break‚ outscoring the Stormers 24-13 in the second half while also scoring four tries – the last of which came after the final hooter.
Fleck praised his team, but was also critical of their secondhalf lapse.
“I was very happy with the first-half performance and certain moments in the second half‚” the coach said.
“The stuff that we worked hard on in the pre-season came through‚ but there were soft moments‚ which are things we can fix quite quickly.
“Maybe it was a bit of overenthusiasm that got the better of us, but it’s small things.
“I am glad they [the mistakes] happened because we need to continue working hard as it’s the start of a long competition. On Monday, we will be honest in our assessment, but I told the guys to savour the moment.”
The Stormers’ setpiece‚ particularly the scrum‚ was dominant‚ as Fleck expected.
“We work incredibly hard at our setpiece, so I’m not surprised about how well it went‚” the coach added.
“We pride ourselves on the setpieces and we scrummed well. We lost one or two lineouts but I am still happy.
“I thought our line speed on defence was very good — it’s new to us. We are going to make mistakes, but overall‚ there were stages where we were knocking them back.
“This is probably the biggest pack in the competition and our guys got stuck in defensively.
“Our breakdown was good on both defence and attack. We got good‚ clean ball on attack and put them under pressure on defence. If you want to beat the New Zealand teams and the likes of the Lions‚ you have to be brutal at the breakdowns.
“It is something we are learning and I feel that we are getting better at it.” /