NEWS
Stormers cruise past bumbling Bulls in Cape Town
The Stormers lashed the Bulls 33-21 in Cape Town on Saturday to advance to the semi-finals of the United Rugby Championship for the second consecutive season
SETTING THE SCENE
There was just the right mix of action and animosity to keep the crowd on the edge of their seats inside the jam-packed Cape Town Stadium.
Boy, oh boy, if Jake White was sick of the lopsided nature of this fixture (in the URC) before, then he might just be on the verge of collapse after Saturday’s outcome.
The Stormers produced fireworks on and off the field to move to a record sixth straight United Rugby Championship win over their fiercest rivals, who were reduced to mere bystanders throughout the game.
The Stormers reminded everyone why they are South Africa’s “IT” team at the moment and they did so in spectacular fashion. Here was a team, who irrespective of the added layer of pressure that comes with playoff rugby, refused to compromise what they stand for and the way they play the game. And that high risk, high reward champagne rugby ultimately proved to be the Bulls undoing from the outset.
To add insult to injury, lady luck had also turned on the Bulls. They had to rearrange their back line without the late withdrawal of star man Canan Moodie. As a result, Kurt-Lee Arendse shifted to the wing, Johan Goosen dropped back to fullback and Chris Smith started at flyhalf, with rookie wing Sibongile Novuka joining the bench.
By contrast, the Stormers had no such qualms. In fact, their players were at their ruthless best from the outset, with Manie Libbok the destroyer in chief. The playmaker easily poked holes in his former team’s defence, leaving Bulls defenders grasping at thin air or eating grass.
It was courtesy of Libbok’s trickery that the home side opened up a 17-point lead in no time, with try-scorers Hacjivah Dayimani and Leolin Zas finding themselves on the end of a final pass with acres of space ahead of them.
The visitors would finally get on the scoresheet through blindside flank Cyle Brink just before half-time, but the hits just kept coming after the restart. First the Goosen had to be stretched off with a head-knock after colliding with Dan du Plessis when contesting for possession after the ball took a wicked bounce which left him wrong-footed.
For all the Bulls’ misfortunes, John Dobson’s men continued on their merry ways, adding 10 more points which put the visitors in danger of suffering a blowout defeat.
There was another consolation try for the Bulls when Embrose Papier touched down, but it was the Stormers that still had more in store for the 44, 109-strong Cape Town faithful, that would be the Pretorians’ last points.
BULLS LET OFF THE HOOK
As the game headed towards its inevitable ending, the Stormers missed a couple scoring opportunities, most notably Damian Willemse in the right corner after he was deemed to have stepped into touched in the in-goal area.