Stormers defence reason for concern

The Stormers left it late to clinch a hard-fought 40-34 Super Rugby win over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

In a game which will probably be best remembered for the five cards dished out by trigger-happy referee Jaco van Heerden, the visitors had to dig deep in the final 10 minutes to get over the line.

While the Stormers managed to outscore the home side by six tries to four, after trailing 34-33 with less than 10 minutes to go, they had to rely on a 73rd minute try by flank Sikhumbuzo Notshe to put the game to bed.

In many ways the match ended in the same way it had started, with red cards shown to both Stormers flank Rynhardt Elstadt and Cheetahs counterpart Henco Venter late in the game. Both were banned for one match yesterday.

Van Heerden had drawn three yellow cards, with both teams making themselves guilty of ill-discipline.

The poor defensive effort of the Stormers did not bode well for their quarterfinal match in three weeks’ time against a Kiwi team.

The Stormers would have been relieved, however, to bag their eighth win of the season and secure their second straight Africa Conference 1title.

One player who would have been smiling was elusive Stormers right wing Cheslin Kolbe (right), who scored a hat-trick of tries and also kicked four conversions for a personal haul of 25 points, after taking over the goal-kicking duties from fullback SP Marais.