Stormers cruise to victory over Sharks
The Stormers cut the gap on United Rugby Championship leaders Leinster with a dominating six-try 46-19 victory over the Sharks.
With the five points gained, they now trail the Irish province by 11 points while the Sharks remain in the final play-off place in eighth.
Herschel Jantjies, Ruben van Heerden, Joseph Dweba, Seabelo Senatla, Suleiman Hartzenberg and Manie Libbok crossed for tries for the Stormers, with Libbok adding a further 14 points with the boot and Clayton Blommetjies two.
Gerbrandt Grobler scored a pair of tries for the hosts, with Dan Jooste also crossing and Curwin Bosch converting two.
The Stormers made a lightning start with the opening try in the second minute when fly-half Libbok broke the line and drew his man before flipping to Jantjies to run in for an easy score under the posts and Blommetjies added the extras.
Van Heerden then took an inside pass before bulldozing through the defensive line to power over and put the Stormers 14-0 up after 18 minutes.
The Stormers’ dominance continued when Dweba went over from the back of a maul before the Sharks finally got on the board two minutes before the break when Grobler broke through two tackles to go in under the posts.
It only took a minute after the restart for the Stormers to claim the bonus-point try. A long cut-out pass from a maul found Senatla in acres of space on the left wing to coast in for a try.
Senatla was the architect as Stormers went in for a fifth try, latching onto his own kick ahead before laying off to Hartzenberg to coast in.
Poor handling in the backs from the Sharks allowed Libbok to pounce on the loose ball and sprint clear for the easiest of tries under the sticks.
The Sharks salvaged some pride as Jooste and Grobler claimed late tries.
Latest Comments
My ‘fantasy’ team V Ireland,
Including options from ABXV if needed, as V Mun better V Ireland better prep than England.
The most important aspect V Ireland is AB need ALL their loosies AND 'loosie capable locks' on ALL match [except IF(?) any tiring ie the aging & slowing eg Cane]. As follows,
{starting} bench (3rd choice)
1 {De Groot} / Tu’ungafasi (Williams)
2 { anyone that can throw!! }/ Aumua (Brodie McAlister)
Ryan! coach lineouts & Aumua to throw!
3 {Lomax}/ Tosi (Newell )
Tosi immense strength V England
4,5 Locks { P.Tuipulotu, S.Barrett }, Vaa’i, Darry
( Isaia Walker-Leawere)
Vaa’i off V Eng. Assumed due to leg injury(?)
6,7,8 Loose forwards { Sititi, A.Savea, Cane } Vaa’i, S.Barrettm, P.Tuipulotu back up (Devan Flanders, Du'Plessis Kirifi )
9 {Roigard } Ratima ( TJ )
10 {D.McK} Perofeta ( Plummer)
12 {J.Barrett } ALB ( Q.Tupaea )
13 {Proctor} Ioane ( AJ Lam )
Ioane (off V England ) but Irish experience (NO not Sexton!)
14 { Tele’a} Reece (bkup W.Jordan )
11 {C.Clarke} Narawa (K.Naholo)
15 {W.Jordan} Love (Stevenson)
Go to commentsI guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.
Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.
Go to comments