Vincent Koch © Gallo ImagesPredict and WIN with 3G MobilePlay our Super Rugby fantasy game and WINStormers’ scrum stands outby Gavin Rich 13 February 2016, 18:16
The DHL Stormers completed their preparations for the Vodacom Super Rugby season with an emphatic 29-14 win over the Jaguares in their final warm-up match at Newlands on Saturday.
The Cape side will face the Vodacom Bulls in their opening competitive game in a fortnight from now, and should have been pleased that they were able to produce the solid performance that will enable them to take winning form into the competition.
However it is debatable whether coach Robbie Fleck will be resting completely easy after a sloppy and loose match that was in that sense a typical pre-season game.
The Stormers will clearly have to tighten up before the Bulls arrive in town, but there again it also needs to be noted that Fleck did make liberal use of his replacements bench, with the team that finished the game bearing little resemblance to the one that started as the coaches took the opportunity to take a final look at combination options.
The most positive aspect from a Stormers viewpoint was the scrumming, particularly in the first half, where Ollie Kebble made a big statement at loosehead as he looks to make this the year that he makes his breakthrough and settles as the first choice prop.
JC van Rensburg, the former Lions stalwart and captain who was recruited from France during the off-season, never made as much of an impact when he came on in the second half.
The pair will be vying for the starting position at loosehead after the departure of Steven Kitshoff for France.
The strong scrumming enabled the Stormers to keep the pressure on the Argentina representatives in the new expanded 18-team Super Rugby competition, and it was off that base that they built their 12-0 halftime lead.
BRILLIANT SOLO EFFORT
The lineouts weren’t great and there wasn’t that much evidence of the vaunted new Stormers attacking game, but both first-half tries were well taken efforts out wide with the players who scored showing their paces. The first try was scored by young wing Leolin Zas, who ran onto a little chip kick from fullback Dillyn Leyds.
Leyds scored the next try not long before halftime, with a perfectly timed pass from centre Huw Jones putting him in the clear out wide to run in the try at the corner flag.
The Argentina side did little to justify their pre-match billing as potential contenders in Super Rugby. Apart from their poor scrumming in the first 40 minutes, their attacking efforts lacked cohesion and they seldom mounted much of a challenge to the Stormers’ defensive line.
However they also wouldn’t have been helped by the knock to the head that flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez sustained when he collided with Stormers prop Vincent Koch early in the game.
Although Sanchez came back onto the field after his cog-test for concussion, he didn’t play with his usual authority. It also looked as though the Jaguares had taken the decision to try and kick as little as possible in this final warm-up game. They will be looking for a more complete strategy when the real deal arrives 14 days from now.
The Stormers didn’t kick much either, but unlike the Argentinians, they didn’t eschew what few kickable opportunities came their way, and flyhalf Robert du Preez added to the Stormers’ halftime lead with a three pointer from in front of the posts not long after the restart.
The Jaguares then scored a good try when reserve centre Santiago Gonzalez Iglasias scythed through to capitalise on some poor Stormers defending in front of their posts after the visitors had enjoyed a fairly extended period where they had been in the home team’s 22.
The Stormers’ next try was a brilliant solo effort from replacement wing Khanyo Ngcukana, who slipped through an open channel after receiving the ball near the 22 metre line, and JD Schickerling, the former age group star lock who is returning this season from an horrific injury suffered in 2014, bolstered his confidence by scoring the fourth and last Stormers try.
The Argentine side grabbed a consolation effort through No 8 Facundo Isa right near the end but it was a lucky score as it looked suspiciously like there was a double movement and maybe even a knock-on in the build-up that wasn’t spotted by the referee.
