THE Stormers are back with a bang in the United Rugby Championship (URC) after thumping Edinburgh 43-21 in Cape Town yesterday evening.
Their backline had an absolute field day, running in the bonus point tries in the first forty minutes, and if they continue playing this type of rugby at home, it’s hard to see any visiting teams coming here beating them.
With this convincing win the Stormers are back into the play-off spots, and moved into fifth place on the overall URC points table, a step closer to the top four and a home quarter-final.
Wingers Suleiman Hartzenberg, who scored a hat-trick of tries, and Leolin Zas were the beneficiaries of the brilliance of halfbacks Paul de Wet and Manie Libbok, fullback Damian Willemse, and centres Dan du Plessis and Wandisile Simelane, who created the opportunities for them to both score two tries in the first half.
It gave them a first-half lead of 26-14. Both tries from Edinburgh in that time came off sloppy play by individuals of the home side, but looking at the tries they created, head coach John Dobson won't be too unhappy.
Hartzenberg was first on the board with his double – one off a Libbok cross-field kick that caught the Edinburgh rush defence out, while the second came thanks to a good run and pass by Willemse, as Hartzenberg dove over in almost the exact spot he dotted down first up.
Zas worked hard under the Edinburgh high kicks and fielded them with soft hands, and when it was time for him to stretch his legs with the ball in hand, he duly obliged.
Thanks to a Libbok cross kick and flanker Ben-Jason Dixon working hard on the wing and kicking the ball through, Zas outpaced the Edinburgh defence and easily collected the ball to sprint in for the score. For his second, he was on hand after Willemse unselfishly passed the ball to him off a clean break from the backline.
The midfield space on attack was created by Du Plessis and Simelane, whose first combination in the DHL Stadium brought the crowd to their feet.
Du Plessis took on the defence, and the short runs off his shoulder by Simelane made the pop passes easy to collect to beat the defenders. There were a couple of breaks where Simelane could’ve looked for support on either side of him, but with more time next to Du Plessis, they will only grow more deadly. The pair also defended solidly and there were hardly any opportunities for their direct opposition's attackers to get in the game.
The platform for the attacking was all thanks to the solid outing by the pack of forwards, and while the excitement of the 23 000-strong crowd was mostly for the running rugby, the heavy men up front made the sexy rugby possible.
The mauls were functioning, and props Brok Harris and Frans Malherbe won the first scrum as the replacements drilled Edinburgh in the second-half scrums. Locks Ruben van Heerden and Salmaan Moerat, alongside Dixon and fellow loose forwards Evan Roos and Nama Xaba did the hard yards to break down the visitor's defence.
Roos capped off a fine performance with two tries in the second half.
There were some entries into the Edinburgh 22-metre area where the Stormers failed to convert, but after the long break from rugby, they will work on that.
A lapse in concentration also meant a maul try, but overall it was a five-star performance and good build-up for the clash against Ulster this coming Saturday.
Points scorers:
Stormers: Tries – Suleiman Hartzenberg (3), Leolin Zas (2), Evan Roos (2). Conversions- Manie Libbok (3), Jurie Matthee. Edinburgh: Tries – Jacob Henry, Viliame Mata, Paddy Harrison. Conversions: Ben Healy (3).