Stormers keen to f ight back after heavy loss
THE Stormers refuse to be bowed after suffering a heavy 57-24 loss to the Crusaders at the weekend, with coach Robbie Fleck preferring to focus on the second half of the match in his preparations this week.
The Stormers trailed the Crusaders 36-3 at half time thanks to a five-try blitzkrieg in the space of 25 minutes.
But the Stormers fought back‚ scoring three second-half tries to take some momentum into this weekend’s meeting with the Highlanders in Dunedin.
Fleck praised the Crusaders’ line speed on defence in that first half but was too diplomatic to point out the obvious – that they were offside on many occasions.
The home team played on the edge of legality and with a weak referee in Paul Williams allowing them latitude, they took full advantage‚ punishing the poor Stormers’ defence.
“In the first half‚ they put us under pressure around the breakdown and I felt some of the calls could have gone our way‚” Fleck said.
“I felt there was an influence from the sideline and that there was a clear steal from us‚ but then it went against us and led to their first try.
“That’s the way the game goes‚ but when you lose by such a wide margin you can’t blame the officials.
“When they got the ball we just couldn’t stop their momentum. Obviously our poor defence was a big issue in the first half.
“After half time we needed to front up‚ which we did. Once we scored a few tries we relaxed a bit and played some good rugby.”
The Stormers were passive of defence in the first half and the overall stats make for miserable reading.
The Crusaders made seven line breaks and 12 tackle busts. That kind of largesse seldom goes unpunished against New Zealand teams.
On the positive side, the Stormers made four line breaks of their own and seven tackle busts‚ but their finishing was not always as polished as it should have been.
After winning the first six matches of their campaign‚ the Stormers have suffered back-to-back defeats against the Lions and Crusaders.
It’s not ideal with the Highlanders and the Hurricanes to come on tour‚ but Fleck remains positive that the season is not about to implode.
“We’d better sort out our problems because if we don’t it’s going to be another long afternoon for us next week. But the second-half performance gives me a lot of positives.”
Centre Daniel du Plessis and flank Cobus Wiese both suffered shoulder dislocations and are out of the tour.