Defeat spells rough weather for Stormers

THE Stormers’ Australasian tour has become a lot tougher after they threw away victory against the Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday and now face a daunting two weeks in New Zealand.

The Waratahs poached a 34-27 win thanks to an injury-time try from flank Ned Hanigan that gave the home team a victory they will cherish in a match that was always on a knifeedge.

However, Robbie Fleck’s Stormers are rightly blaming themselves for the loss.

Ill-discipline and poor execution cost them‚ and this has left the team in a tight spot with matches against the Crusaders and Highlanders to come.

The Stormers have only won two of nine away games against the Highlanders – the last in 2012 – while they have lost all 10 away clashes against the Crusaders‚ including last season’s 57-24 drubbing.

Two crucial lost lineouts‚ as well as failing to take advantage when the Waratahs were down to 14 men in the fourth quarter‚ were the obvious reasons for the Stormers’ defeat at the weekend. One of those lineouts‚ when replacement hooker Dean Muir failed to connect with his jumpers, resulting in a turnover‚ led directly to Hanigan’s match-winning try.

“It is tough to lose in the last second‚ but the Waratahs had opportunities to score earlier on and so did we‚” Fleck said.

“It looked as if no one really wanted to win it at one stage‚ but I guess we’ve only got ourselves to blame.

“We had two lineouts and a scrum to get out of that position and put them back under pressure. They got the turnovers and they put that pressure on us.

“Our lineout didn’t probably work as it should‚ so that is something we will have to work on.

“I guess our exits weren’t as good either‚ so we had plenty of opportunities to get out of our half and put them back under the pump.

“We are disappointed‚ but there were a lot of positives in the game.

Captain Siya Kolisi was also critical of his team’s performance.

“Throughout we kept on making mistakes and putting them in the game‚” he said. – TimesLIVE