Fleck happy with win but not performance
Coleman set to take over at flyhalf with Du Preez out for six weeks
STORMERS snipers shot down the Cheetahs lineout to clinch a rare win in Bloemfontein on Saturday, but coach Robbie Fleck said that the Africa 1 conference leaders were well wide of the mark in several other facets of play.
“We just weren’t accurate,” a disappointed Fleck said repeatedly during the press conference following a 20-10 victory against the Cheetahs – the Cape side’s first smell of success in the City of Roses since 2012.
“It’s always tough to come up here. It’s a nice win for us and we’ll take it, but I’m not happy with our performance.”
Fleck’s forward pack was lauded by the press after steamrolling the Bulls for a 339 win at Newlands in round one, but the same unit failed to reproduce that effort in Bloemfontein. “I was very happy with the performance against the Bulls, but today it was a frustrating performance,” added the Stormers coach.
“Credit to the Cheetahs for getting under our skin in the first 60 and for getting in between us and forcing us to make errors.
“I think we were too loose in that first half, but the half-time chat was good and we were better after that, especially the last 20 minutes.”
Leading up to the match, Dillyn Leyds and co-captain Juan de Jongh spoke of the need to exercise patience against a Cheetahs outfit that operates best in broken play. The Stormers did not get a passing grade in this category. “There was too much loose ball being thrown around, we just weren’t clinical, and our lineout didn’t operate as accurately as it should have,” Fleck said.
“The scrums were a fair contest in the first half, and we felt that the ascendancy was coming our way in the second half; it was just a matter of having patience, really, and we didn’t have that in the first 60 minutes.”
“It was a tough day at the office for us, we had a lot of ball and we just couldn’t capi- talise and finish those opportunities,” said De Jongh.
The Cheetahs force-fed the Stormers some of their own medicine at the set piece, with respective loosehead props Charles Marais and Oli Kebble drilling their opposing tighthead rivals to make the scrum too unstable a platform for launching attacks.
Stormers lock Eben Etzebeth won man of the match honours after he picked off multiple Cheetahs lineouts to turn the tide of the set-piece battle in the visitors’ favour.
Fleck was mildly impressed.
“Eben played well, he was good and physical, but overall I felt that our pack didn’t play as well as it should have,” he said.
Overall, the Stormers are under the least pressure on the standings, having gained a five-point lead on the Bulls in their conference after just two matches.
Stormers fans will also be chuffed that their team managed to snap a three-game losing streak in Bloemfontein.
“Look, to come away with a win here was crucial, it was a step in the right direction,” said Fleck. “We’ve gained a bit of ascendancy in the (conference) and it was important to come away with the win.
“But we’re looking forward to the return match (at Newlands on May 28) because I think that we can be a lot more clinical and accurate in our performance.”
Africa 2 conference leaders, the Sharks will be in town on Saturday (kickoff 5.15pm) for a showdown between the front-runners in the South African group. The Durban side also sputtered to victory at the weekend, a 19-15 win against the Jaguares, after an emphatic result in round one.
Former Stormers utility back Joe Pietersen is set to duel Kurt Coleman as it is believed Robert du Preez will be out for six weeks. The rookie pivot was helped off the field after hyper-extending a knee in a tackle, and Coleman took over.
Coleman will now move into the starting role with Jean-Luc du Plessis and Brandon Thomson vying for the empty spot on the bench.