Gritty Jaguares make Stormers sweat

Rudolph Jacobs

Star lock forward JD Schickerling (right) admitted the Stormers had to pull out all the stops before securing a 28-20 win over the Jaguares in their Super Rugby opener in Cape Town at the weekend.

The hosts led 15-6 at the break after scoring their opening try through centre Damian de Allende and their second shortly afterwards by captain Siya Kolisi.

In the second half, however, the tide started to turn and it became a battle after hooker Ramone Samuels was yellow-carded.

“We knew it would be tough and our forward pack had to work very hard, so congrats to my teammates,” said 22-year-old Schicker- ling, named Man-of-the-Match.

Though the Stormers scored a third try by wing Raymond Rhule, the Jaguares hit back with a superb try from wing Emilliano Boffelli and a penalty try while Samuels was off the park.

Shickerling nonetheless believed it was a positive start before they flew out to Sydney yesterday to start their away leg against the Waratahs this weekend.

“We had to work very hard to score the tries we did,” he said. “It was important to get a platform.”

The Stormers suffered a couple of injury blows, with hooker Bongi Mbonambi withdrawing from the Jaguares clash with a burst appendix, while prop Wilco Louw played only the first half due to a niggle in his knee.