The negative part of the DHL Stormers’ 38-all draw with Ulster in Belfast was that their quest for a first ever top of the log finish to the Vodacom URC finish is now no longer in their hands. The positive part of the penalty try that enabled them to level the scores at the end is that they are still unbeaten overseas in the competition this season.
That latter point, with their only defeats north of the equator this season coming in the Investec Champions Cup, and it is difficult to even rate the narrow loss to Toulon as a failure as they were robbed of the win in that round of 16 game, should imbue them with some confidence as they head to Cardiff to prepare for Friday night’s final league match at Cardiff Arms Park.
The game at Kingspan did show that there are still some adjustments the Stormers need to make to playing on 4G pitches, and there is an argument they didn’t completely stick to plan either, but the draw was an improvement on their previous results at that venue.
They should have got the win and banked the five log points that would have confirmed that their improvement is happening in more than just the incremental fashion that the move from a 38-34 defeat there last year to 38-all would suggest and they should arguably have put Ulster away when they were 17-7 up and playing against 14 men following the 20 minute red card shown to the Ulster captain Iain Henderson.
MISSED FOURIE’S CAPTAINCY
But mention of the Henderson sanction cues the reminder that it wasn’t a perfect night for the Stormers when it came to luck - the incident that saw Henderson carded, a croc roll on Stormers captain Deon Fourie, robbed the Stormers of their designated leader for the bulk of the match. It also prevented director of rugby John Dobson from implementing his “two fetcher” plan later in the game.
Would the Stormers have shown more calmness and control had Fourie, or for that matter the injured regular skipper Ruhan Nel, been on the field? We will never know, but it did look like they departed from plan at times, although that could also have been down to the fact that for once they didn’t have the massive scrum dominance they normally enjoy.
A lot of that was down, as Dobson pointed out afterwards, to them not getting a single scrum put in during the game.
“We did not have one put in on our ball which is a much easier route to a penalty and a platform to attack from,” said Dobson.
“They also dealt with our mauls very effectively which meant we had to find another way to attack them which I think we did very well. To score those tries and go on top of them without the scrum or maul dominance we are used to was a big positive for us.”
SACHA HITTING HIS MOST COMMANDING FORM
Looking at it that way Dobson is right to be positive. And the game also produced a perfect picture of the influence that Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu can assert and the form he is running into as the international season nears.
He looks even more difficult to stop with ball in hand on a 4G pitch than he is on grass and his contribution extended way beyond just the two tries he scored.
His halfback partner and fellow Bishops old boy Imad Khan was outstanding too and was perhaps unlucky not to have forced a penalty try in the incident that saw him have the ball knocked from his hands near the Ulster line by a player who was off his feet.
The referee, after watching the replay, took the view he knocked the ball on before his arm was knocked by the Ulster defender and that is debatable. Another ref may well have produced a yellow card and awarded a penalty try.
FIRST ULSTER TRY CAME WHEN WILLEMSE WAS OFF THE FIELD
That was one instance of bad luck to add to the early loss of Fourie, and another was the wrong footing they got off to because of a first minute head clash that forced Damian Willemse off the field. That meant the influential Springbok was absent and the Stormers were trying to regroup when Ulster managed to get the momentum that led to the first of three tries to former Sharks wing Werner Kok.
Injuries do become more of an issue on a 4G pitch and it is a concern for coaches that visit those venues. A few years ago the then Bulls coach Jake White spoke out about the dangers of 4G pitches when he lost flyhalf Johan Goosen to a long term injury playing a game on that surface.
Losing Fourie for the rest of the season has eaten further into the Stormers’ resources and with hopefully three playoff matches to come after the Cardiff game they will be hoping they can get through their remaining match on a 4G surface without sustaining another injury.
But the win will be first and foremost on their minds on Friday and while their aim of finishing top will now depend on Ulster helping them out against Glasgow, victory will at the very least confirm a second place finish.
Leinster, currently third, can draw level on points if they win with a bonus point and the Stormers just get the win, but the Stormers have a vastly superior points differential on the reigning champions and Investec Champions Cup finalists.
DEFENCE REQUIRES WORK
A return to the ruthlessness and single minded purpose exhibited in their big win over Glasgow in Cape Town two weeks ago will give them a good chance and as Dobson says, it is unlikely they will go another game without having a scrum put in. They will also need to shore up their defence, and work hard on preventing the wide tries that were conceded to Kok.
Ultimately the Ulster game was one where the Stormers should have got at least the 38 points they did score, but they should never have conceded the same number. Dobson has also pinpointed a few adjustments that need to be made to the contestable kicking game.
“The game was played in very difficult conditions with a swirling wind but our contestable game is an area we have worked so hard on becoming good at and we lost one or two scraps,” he said.
“Ulster were better there than us which is not how it has been for us in the last while. That can easily be adjusted though this week.”
The Stormers team for the Cardiff game will be announced on Friday and it will be interesting to see if club captain Salmaan Moerat will be ready to take part.