Everitt: We made it too easy for them to Storm to victory
STORMERS 43 EDINBURGH 21
Head coach Sean Everitt last night admitted Edinburgh had nobody to blame but themselves after shipping seven tries to the Stormers.
The capital club were without most of their Scotland regulars for the match and only arrived in Cape Town via Qatar a few days ago.
The 2022 URC champions and last year’s runners-up preside over a formidable home record and again made it count in a game of 10 tries, with Suleiman Hartzenberg the pick of the bunch with a hat-trick.
Edinburgh – forced into a late selection reshuffle after Emiliano Boffelli was ruled out – never really threatened to come out on top although did manage to land three scores of their own.
And Everitt conceded his team had struggled to get into their rhythm at the end of a tough few days.
He said: “We knew the first week here was going to be tough. It’s quite a long flight when you go via Doha to get to Cape Town.
“It’s a massive adjustment for us, even though the guys are welcoming the South African sunshine. But we’re not going to use that as an excuse.
“We conceded four set-piece tries and that is disappointing because that’s bread-and-butter stuff. It’s normally after a few phases that fatigue sets in, but we made it too easy for them.
“You are always going to miss world-class players. If you look at Duhan van der Merwe, he is up for Six Nations Player of the Tournament. So you are going to miss those types of players.
“But it is also an opportunity for other guys to step up.”
The Gunners now travel to Durban for the second game of this mini-series against the Sharks.
And after failing to take even a losing bonus point here to drop to seventh, Everitt recognised the need to do better next weekend.
“A bonus point today would have been vital considering how tight the log is so it’s for us to get to Durban and get as many points as we can out of that game,” added the South African.
Stormers dominated the first half to score four tries and wrap up the bonus point before the break. Wingers Hartzenberg and Leolin Zas claimed two scores apiece, finishing off flowing moves with simple finishes in the corner.
Edinburgh struggled to get a foothold but took advantage of some sloppy Stormers play to land two tries of their own before the break.
Jake Henry scored the first, marking his pro debut by powering over the line after great work by Mark Bennett. The second came from veteran Bill Mata (inset) after the hosts had conceded a needless line-out.
Jamie Hodgson jumped highest before feeding the Fijian who showed great strength and pace to cross the whitewash.
Edinburgh needed to start the second half well but instead fell further behind as Hartzenberg completed his hat-trick, picked out by Evan Roos to score in the corner.
With the backs having garnered all of the glory until that point, Roos showed the forwards can play a bit too, the No. 8 bursting free from the line-out maul to claim Stormers’ sixth try.
Paddy Harrison got Edinburgh’s third score to briefly break up the one-way traffic only for Roos to claim his second and Stormers’ seventh to round off a breathless encounter.