Fleck’s Storm-troopers find elusive form to quell Rebels

WHO NEEDS Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, JD Schickerling, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Ali Vermaak, Jano Vermaak, Dan du Plessis, Chris van Zyl and SP Marais?

Apparently not the Stormers. At least not a group of young men led by Steven Kitshoff for the very first time.

The Stormers had no business winning 41-24 in Melbourne.

They were in the last game of a desperate tour that had seen them butcher the three previous matches. They had not won overseas in 11 attempts. Their depth was being tested to such an extent that a sole specialist lock remained on tour.

The opposition were the free-scoring Australian conference leaders. And most importantly, they had a coach that was virtually walking the plank ahead of the Stormers’ return to Cape Town.

Talk about the odds stacked up against you. But yet they managed to run in five tries to three to inject fresh energy and hope into a campaign that was withering away.

It was an invigorating display of courage and determination, but crucially it was sprinkled with sublime touches of skill and a fair deal of good fortune that had previously eluded the Stormers on tour.

Robbie Fleck and his support staff have bemoaned the bounce of the ball all season. Assistant Paul Feeney spoke this very week about how the “rub of the green” just needed to turn and so would the results. It sounded like a desperate cry for help.

But that is exactly what transpired at AAMI Park yesterday.

Suddenly, the opposition clearance kicks were landing in the hands of a flying Dillyn Leyds for the winger to scythe through the defence within the first three minutes.

Even the mercurial Quade Cooper – a player that has been in supreme form all season – was transformed into a fumbling mess that allowed the prime opportunist Ruhan Nel to pounce like a vulture in the night to run in unopposed for a five-pointer. The former Blitzbok star was certainly the epitome of the Stormers’ change of fortunes as he too later collected an intercept to close out the victory.

But as it has always been stated, there is more than just a four-leaf clover required. The Stormers’ youthful pack was ferocious in defence, particularly in the first half when they made just on 100 tackles to keep the advancing Rebels at bay.

It was a performance that showed Fleck that the candle may soon be going out on his Stormers’ coaching career, but that he still had the full support of the locker room.

It wasn’t a completely faultless display with flyhalf Jean-Luc du Plessis trying his level best to cancel every good thing he does with mind-numbing mistakes like when he tossed the ball straight into the hands of Rebels fullback Reece Hodge to put the game in the balance shortly after the halftime break.

Fortunately on this occasion, Fleck yanked him off immediately to allow Josh Stander to bring some calmness and direction in the closing stages.

It was a performance that was much needed.

Not only has it seen the drought on foreign soil come to a merciful close, but it will be a massive confidence booster ahead of a six-game home stretch that will hopefully be played before a few thousand more avid Stormers supporters now.