1
Engelbrecht's brace fires Stormers past Rebels
By Iain Strachan
Stormers defeated Melbourne Rebels 34-18 in Cape Town on Friday to record their first Super Rugby victory in four attempts and extend the Australian side's winless run.
The South African franchise had lost their last three matches, to domestic opponents Bulls, Lions and Sharks, but they stopped the rot at Newlands, where JJ Engelbrecht claimed a brace of tries.
Damian de Allende and Dillyn Leyds also crossed for the hosts, while the boot of Damian Willemse contributed 14 points in a victory that leaves Stormers third in the South African Conference, and ninth overall.
The Rebels remain second in the Australian Conference thanks to their strong start to the season, and are seventh overall, but have now lost their last four matches.
After Rebels' Jack Debreczeni sent over two penalties either side of one from Willemse early on, De Allende burst through a tackle and then advanced beyond the visitors' defence to open the scoring in the 16th minute.
With seven minutes to go in the half, Willemse's pass out to the left played in Pieter-Steph du Toit, who unselfishly offloaded for Engelbrecht to score, as Stormers went in 17-6 ahead at the break.
It took just four minutes of the second half for Leyds to extend his team's advantage by chasing and grounding Dewaldt Duvenage's grubber kick.
Continue reading below...
Video: Dan Carter exclusive
Sefa Naivalu crossed unmarked on the right to score the Rebels' first try of the match after the patient away team recycled possession through 18 phases.
And Naivalu bagged another in the 76th minute, going over down the right again after a series of pick and drives from the Rebels.
Stormers had the last word, though, Engelbrecht slicing through the opposition's defensive line after some slick handling down the right to cap off the win with another try from the last passage of play in the match.
Video: Rebels coaches Wessels and Foote join the Late Tackle team
Trending on RugbyPass
2
All Blacks XV player ratings vs Munster
3
Suaalii strikes awe as Wallabies lose midfielder
4
Scott Robertson responds about handling errors
5
Latest Comments
SCW really dislikes Eddie, doesn't he?
His words in 2019 before the RWC final that he now says should have resulted in Eddie's firing:
"Was Saturday’s sensational World Cup semi-final win over New Zealand England’s greatest ever performance? Yes, unquestionably, would be my answer."
So let's fire the coach one game later? Duh!
Go to commentsIreland have every right to back themselves for a win. But the key variable has little to do with recent record etc.
The reality is that Ireland are a settled team with tons of continuity, an established style, and a good depth chart, whereas NZ are fundamentally rebuilding. The questions are all about what Razor is doing and how far along he is in that program.
NZ are very close to really clicking. Against England all of the chatter is about how England could have closed out a win, but failed to do so. This has obscured the observation that NZ were by far the more creative and effective in attack, beyond the 3-1 try differential and disallowed tries. They gave away a lot of unnecessary penalties, and made many simple errors (including knock-ons and loose kicks). Those things are very fixable, and when they do so we are once again going to be staring at a formidable NZ team.
Last week we heard the England fans talking confidently about their chances against NZ, but England did not end up looking like the better team on the field or the scoreboard. The England defense was impressive enough, but still could not stop the tries.
Ireland certainly has a better chance, of course, but NZ is improving fast, and I would not be surprised at a convincing All Black win this week. It may turn on whether NZ can cut out the simple mistakes.
Go to comments