Stormers’ grit edges out Sharks

The DHL Stormers edged the Cell C Sharks 21-19 in the first of the two matches played in the Vodacom Super Hero Sunday double-header at FNB Stadium.

The Stormers led 7-5 at halftime, the same difference between the two teams that there was at the end of a match which at one stage, in terms of points scoring, shaped as a direct individual clash between two of the triumphant World Cup-winning Springboks, Stormers scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies and Sharks wing Makazole Mapimpi.

The latter capitalised on the Sharks’ vowed intent to be more adventurous with their attacking game in 2020 by scoring two good tries, one of them the result of good dovetailing with his Bok teammate Lukhanyo Am, who helped set up the try he scored in the Yokohama World Cup final.

Jantjies was in an “anything you can do, I can do better” mood, and the Sharks would not have won were it not for the excellent read that led to a second-half intercept try that reclaimed a lead the Cape side had just relinquished.

Earlier he had capitalised on a strong Stormers maul from an attacking lineout to go through a gap as wide as the Atlantic Ocean for the Stormers’ only first-half try.

You should never take results of a pre-season game too seriously, but the Sharks will lament their inability to take advantage of their superiority at forward and in the territory battle in the first half. The Sharks had their full strength pack playing for them, whereas the Stormers were significantly under-strength in that department, and it showed.

Nonetheless, Sharks coach Sean Everitt should be pleased with the performance of his scrum, with Ox Nche in his first game in the black and white sending out the message that there is a ready-made replacement for the departed legend, Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira.

With Thomas du Toit also in solid form on the other side, it meant that the Stormers scrum was under constant pressure, and considering that it is up front that the Sharks have lost most of their personnel during the off-season, that is a positive for the Durban team.

It was noticeable, though, the difference Wilco Louw, a man who has experience of starting for the Boks at tighthead prop, made to the Stormers scrum when he came on - thus sending out a reminder that there were several big names missing from the Stormers’ effort up front.

For a start, two-thirds of the Bok front-row from the World Cup final, Bongi Mbonambi and Frans Malherbe, did not play, and neither did Pieter-Steph du Toit.

BOXES TICKED FOR BOTH TEAMS

With a more settled scrum, the Stormers brought more to their game in the second half, though it was mainly due to their grit in defence earlier that they were in the game at all.

The Jantjies score was an opportunistic effort, but the one from his replacement, Godlen Masimla, later in the game, was the product of some good build-up work from the Stormers as they began to get their play together.

For both teams, there were boxes ticked but also reminders of where there is still work to do. For the Sharks one of the ticks was the way the game showed the potential of their switch back to the old Natal rugby attacking DNA, with Mapimpi’s first try, running onto an Am chip kick, coming off a tap penalty deep inside the Sharks’ own half.

It has been a long time since a Sharks team has shown the willingness to be so adventurous in a tightly fought game and it was great for them that they profited from it.

The Sharks were also good at slowing down the Stormers’ ball, with the breakdown generally delivering another tick, as did their defensive game overall, though Stormers coach John Dobson should have been pleased with the performance of his own breakdown specialist, Nama Xaba.

Siya Kolisi, playing in the unfamiliar position of No 8, showed what he could do as a carrier from that position, though in a more serious game he might have lamented not passing earlier to Sergeal Petersen when the Stormers enjoyed a great try-scoring opportunity via a bullocking Kolisi run early on.

While Jantjies walked away with the man of the match award, the Bok back-up scrumhalf might have left the FNB Stadium that he also has some work to do on some of the basics of playing his position, particularly his passing.

The commentators were surprised when he passed the ball over Damian Willemse’s head from a retreating scrum near the Stormers’ line in the first half but the truth is that Jantjies’ passing has never been as smart as some of the other aspects of his play.

Talking of aspects of play, Damian Willemse showed glimpses at flyhalf for the Stormers of the better game management that may be the product of him being part of the Saracens set-up during the off-season.

The game, played in the heat of the day, was a typical pre-season game in terms of the mistakes made by both teams, and typical of a match of this nature, the Sharks changed all but three of their players heading into the final quarter as Everitt looked to improve his depth before the Super Rugby season starts two weeks from now.

That the Stormers didn’t do the same was probably because Dobson’s fringe players would have had a more than adequate work-out in their match against the Southern Kings in Knysna on Friday night.

SCORES

DHL Stormers 21 - Tries: Herschel Janjties 2 and Godlen Masimla; Conversions Damian Willemse 2 and Jean-Luc du Plessis.

Cell C Sharks 19 - Tries: Makazole Mapimpi 2 and Marius Louw; Conversions: Curwin Bosch and Boeta Chamberlain.