Stormers' run comes to an end; Rugby 365

The Stormers suffered their first loss of 2015, as they went down 19-28 to two-times Super Rugby champions, the Chiefs at Newlands on Saturday. The Men from the Cape, still the SA Conference leaders despite their first defeat of the tournament, lost a ferocious fixture against their more experienced opponents. The visitors, the 2013 and 2014 champions, scored three tries to one to leave the huge crowd disappointed – that after a Kobus van Wyk try, converted by Kurt Coleman (who also added a penalty goal), put the hosts up by 10-3 after 20 minutes. But the Chiefs, with flyhalf Aaron Cruden doing their points-scoring, never let the Stormers out of their sights and Cruden scored (and converted) a try to make it 13-10 after 30 minutes. Coleman popped over another penalty goal in the 35th minute, to put his team ahead by 16-10, but Cruden landed a penalty goal in the 40th minute to claw back a valuable three points at 16-13 before the break. The Chiefs piled on the pressure in the second half and their dominance eventually told on the scoreboard when left wing James Lowe muscled his way over in the 48th minute – handing the Chiefs a 20-16 lead, the first time they went ahead since the 15th minute of the game. Slowly but surely the Chiefs managed to keep their noses in front, as Cruden landed a penalty goal in the 60th minute to make the score 23-16 to the visitors as the final quarter began. The Stormers, to their credit, defended courageously to keep the Chiefs at bay but the visitors’ pressure told once more when All Blacks flank Sam Cane forced his way over in the left-hand corner with nine minutes left on the clock. That try, the Chiefs’ third, extended their lead past the seven-point barrier which meant the Stormers had to head the all-out attacking route to preserve their unbeaten run. It was not to be, however, as the Stormers fell short for the first time in 2015 but they remain in a favourable position on the Super Rugby log – both at conference and overall level – after five rounds of action. Man of the match: The Stormers had plenty of stand out players, especially in the first half; Vincent Koch and Steven Kitshoff were great in the scrum as well as in the loose, Damian de Allende carries on to boost his reputation and Siya Kolisi looked to be gaining some form. For the Chiefs, Sonny Bill Williams and Aaron Cruden may have made a few mistakes but they were also critical in some of the Chiefs tries, the back three of Damien McKenzie, Bryce Heem and James Lowe were also excellent, but over all it was the persistent hard work put in by Sam Cane that sees him crowned our man of the match. Scorers: For the Stormers:Try: Van Wyk Con: ColemanPens: Coleman 3, Catrakilis For the Chiefs: Tries: Cruden, Lowe, CaneCons: Cruden 2Pens: Cruden 3 Teams: Stormers: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Duane Vermeulen (captain), 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Manuel Carizza, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff.Replacements: 16 Neil Rautenbach, 17 Alistair Vermaak, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Ruan Botha, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Nic Groom, 22 Demetri Catrakilis, 23 Huw Jones. Chiefs: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Tim Nanai-Williams, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 James Lowe, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Michael Fitzgerald, 4 Matt Symons, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Hika Elliot, 1 Pauliasi Manu.Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Siate Tokolahi, 18 Jamie Mackintosh, 19 Michael Allardice, 20 Maama Vaipulu, 21 Augustine Pulu, 22 Andrew Horrell, 23 Tom Marshall. Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)Assistant referees: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa), Quinton Immelman (South Africa)TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa) 

 Exciting game to watch as both teams battled in out with different strengths.

 JW
I was very interested in the "dual" between De Allende and S-B Williams, but I believe that De Allende won that one.
Cruden has redeemed much of his lost image today and he was definitely a key element in the winning of the game by the Chiefs.
The one thing the Chiefs must and should be worried about is their props - they are crinkle paper and is really the one weak spot in the Chiefs team.   Other than a ratherr dubious performance by Williams - the rest of the Chiefs backline was magnificent.
By the way - you may not agree about Williams being over-shadowed by De Allende - but both the Foxsport and Dream team fantasy games indicates as such.    

CleverMike, how did our ruckers forum do this week in fantasy rugby?- so far at least. I am stuck on 498 points which isn't bad but a few players did not perform as expected & a few others got injured so not a bad result. Steven Moore was awesome.
SBW helped his team win the game as he released players outside of him. For sure he took some big hits from the likes of Koch but bottom-line was good. I didn't see much of De Allende but he does not impress me as being a well rounded player yet. For sure he is a major  strength for the wee stormers and should be in the Boks but he is not the full deal yet.

 Mike we really shouldnt get carried away by the chiefs backs. When you have to run against the likes of Leyd and Cheslin is pretty easy really.Put in a decent Stormers backline and everything would look very different. 
Beeno bringing much needed perspective.

 JW 
I agree with you that Williams is a good ball distributor - but he should have more than that to perform.  His attacking play was virtually non-existent today and he made some serious mistakes as well.  In that regard I would like to quote the following stats: -
de Allende0/100/3/5421311
Williams0/000/5/11410253


Let me be explicit - Williams carried the ball 11 times making 41 meters and beating two defenders.    He made 5 off-loads - a definite advantage, but he also lost ball possession 3 times and gave away a penalty.    
On the other hand De Allende only carried the ball 5 times making 42 meters and made a line break - going past Williams as if he was not there - as well as beating 3 defenders in the process.   On his part he knocked a ball on once as against the three possession losses of Williams.  
As to the Fantasy issue I made the biggest balls-up I have made for years.  Thinking that it would be an easy game for the Hurricanes during which Barrett would shine - I selected him to replace Pollard at flyhalf - and was even more pathetic by making him my captain.  That was a seriously defective mistake and he will be gone next week.
Even though there is some serious updating to be done insofar as my team is concerned - I think that I will not get to 500 this round - there may be a few 500's around - but I cannot see us improving on our Round 4 performances.  
I am more optimistic about next week though.   Will get as first priority get rid of Barrett and buy back Pollard.   There are a few others to go as well.  Have to change one prop, because the Stormers will be on a bye.   I may bring in Williams into my starting line-up.   Must work on getting Cane and Moore into my selections as well.  
Du Toit was injured today - but is likely to play next week if the commentators can be believed.  If not - I will need another lock as well. 
I am str uggling to get into the Foxsport website and will have a look at it again tomorrow morning.            

 SBW had his bell wrung & that effected him for the rest of the game. I see the stats you have provided but also would like to see the game again. 
I think I should break the 500 mark in fantasy rugby this week but we will see once they have done the final tally. If we hold even this week that is not so bad as on average I think we have a good set of players in our league & should slowly edge up the ladder.