On a wet and moody day, the Stormers finally got the monkey off their back in claiming their first trophy as a franchise against the much-favoured Bulls in front of the delirious Cape Town faithful. If only the government wasn’t so stubborn, there could have been an even bigger crowd to witness history being made. The celebrations in Cape Town have been long and sustained, most notably by Hacjivah Dayimani whose content on socials has gone viral, even trying to get traffic fines quashed by CT Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis!
The Bulls made an emphatic start to the final, with their dominant driving maul coming to the fore. In a trick play, the front men peeled away while Johan Grobbelaar still had the ball at the back, and he went close to the line from a bullocking run before executing a brilliant offload in the tackle to centre Harold Vorster for the opening score. Vorster finished well, corkscrewing out of a tackle to go over next to the posts and the Bulls were 7 – 0 up in the 4th minute.
The Bulls then went to work by mimicking the Ulster game plan which worked for so long against the Stormers, employing contestable box-kicks with a determined kick-chase to pin the Stormers in their own half. This effective tactic, together with a shameful 7 turnovers by the Stormers in the first 25 minutes meant the Cape side could not get into the game. It seemed as though every time the Stormers took the ball into contact they would knock the ball on. The Stormers were also not helped by the ponderous Herschel Jantjies at the breakdown. His counterpart Zak Burger had the upper hand in the early stages.
The Stormers faithful could have been forgiven for thinking they were in for yet more home playoff heartbreak, with the team forcing passes and generally being poor in contact. It took them the better part of half an hour just to enter the Bulls 22m.
From a lineout inside the Stormers half in the 38th minute, Warrick Gelant executed a brilliant 50/22 which led to a Stormers attacking lineout. Dayimani took the lineout and after a good drive to within 10m of the Bulls line, the Stormers were awarded a penalty for offside, which Manie Libbok slotted after the hooter to make the score 7 -3 to the Bulls going into the break. A scoreline that massively flattered the hosts, but one which would have given them hope.
Deon Fourie, on the occasion of his 100th Stormers cap, put in another dominant display at the breakdown and together with captain Steven Kitshoff, was a constant nuisance to the massive Bulls pack. As Schalk Burger said in punditry in the break, were it not for Fourie, the Bulls could have been out of sight by half-time. It is well-documented that the Stormers lineout has been a weakness all campaign, and in a bid to negate this, they went short to Kitshoff at the front of the lineout a number of times just to secure set piece ball. The scrums were evenly contested, with most being neutral in outcome on the quickly disintegrating pitch.
The Stormers would have been desperate to start the second half well, as chasing the game on such a heavy pitch against the kicking game of the Bulls would be nigh impossible. Instead, they conceded a penalty for holding on from the first movement after half-time and Chris Smith did the rest to take the Bulls out to a 10 – 3 lead.
The Stormers finally got into the game when they took their first chance of the second half. After some adventure with ball in hand which led to a dangerous chip near the Bulls goalline, Kurt-Lee Arendse covered well to dive on the ball before the onrushing Stormers could collect. Arendse’s intervention led to a 5m Stormers scrum feed on the right-hand side. Damian Willemse was asked to crash up first phase and quick ball was used to full effect by Evan Roos when coming around the corner to power over the line, placing the ball on the whitewash when reaching out. Libbok converted and the scores were level. The blueprint was set for the Stormers in showing a bit more adventure and patience with ball in hand to achieve victory.
In one phase of play near the end of the third quarter, the difference in attitude between the two sides in the second half was demonstrated. After some kick tennis, with Tambwe effective in tapping the ball back to the Bulls side, the Stormers started to look for space with ball in hand and after a bit of helter skelter play, the ball reached Ruhan Nel in the wide channel and his charge was stopped illegally by a high tackle from Cornal Hendricks. This tackle was clear foul play and Hendricks was sent to the bin for 10 mins. From the resulting penalty, Libbok got a bit greedy and only just kicked the ball the right side of the corner flag to set up a Stormers 5m lineout. In the break in play before the lineout could be taken, Andre-Hugo Venter joined the fray as JJ Kotze was knocked almost spark out in a collision with impressive Bulls fullback Canan Moodie in the build-up to the penalty.
From the 5m lineout the Stormers set up a maul which, after one stop, reset effectively and with Venter perfectly positioned at the back and showing patience, the replacement barged over for an uplifting score. Libbok couldn’t convert but the turnaround was complete, Stormers were up 15 – 10 going into the final quarter.
Much was made of the surface before the game, as it has been a shambles since the Lions Tour last year. A week of near flooding was obviously going to make it even worse and whilst some players were slipping and sliding, the real impact was felt by the Stormers when Gelant went to exit but slipped, leading to his kick being charged down for a lineout 10m from the Stormers line. More kick tennis followed this lineout and the Bulls were awarded a kickable penalty for the Stormers going off their feet. The Bulls went for poles to make it 15 – 13, all stemming from Gelant’s slip! At this stage I was convinced that Morne Steyn would come on and kick the winning penalty for a 16 – 15 Bulls win! My trepidation was heightened when Bismarck du Plessis was brought on, ostensibly to counter Fourie’s jackal threat at the breakdown with one of their own.
My half-prophecy almost manifested itself when Bismarck should have been awarded a jackal penalty after the Stormers got isolated after a number of phases in the Bulls 22m. Referee Andrew Brace instead gave the penalty to the Stormers, but they were unable to convert another chance in the red zone.
In the 73rd minute the Stormers were close to settling the match when Sergeal Petersen collected a box-kick with amazing aerial prowess for a small man and burst away on a barnstorming run before his offload was intercepted by David Kriel in a match-saving intervention. Kriel was tackled by the omnipresent Roos who forced him into carrying the ball back to set up a scrum to the Stormers, 5m from the Bulls line. From the scrum, Willemse was tackled backwards, before replacement Junior Pokomela regained some forward momentum with a strong carry and Libbok slipped into the pocket to kick a clutch drop goal and extend the Stormers lead to 18 – 13.
In the Bulls last chance of the game, they had a scrum on the left-hand side, 35m from the tryline. After a great break by Arendse, which would have stopped many Stormers fans’ hearts, the Stormers and Bulls exchanged turnovers before the Stormers were able to retain the ball and it was fitting that a dyed-in-the-wool Stormers man, Willemse, would kick the ball into the stands to secure a famous win for the Stormers franchise to cue wild celebrations on the field and in the stands.
The Stormers turned the game on its head in the second half, showing more adventure than the Bulls and also more patience and skill with ball in hand than was shown in the first half. The Stormers created more chances than the Bulls and ultimately that was the difference between the sides. The Bulls were content to persist with the box-kicking game, with Tambwe excellent in the air in retaining possession for them. The Stormers were probably on the right side of some 50/50 calls, but after the diabolical refereeing they have been up against in this competition they were perhaps due the rub of the green.
In 2007, there was an all-South Africa Super Rugby Final and the Boks would go on to win the World Cup later that year in France. Whilst still another campaign away, this all-South African final in Europe can hopefully lead to similar success in France next year, with SA in a pool with Ireland and Scotland, whose sides have been swatted aside in the playoff stages of the inaugural URC.
