Comments on: Call in the Stewards for the Stormers Super 14 decision

By: Max Lamberto

Max Lamberto — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:11:09 +0000

Maybe they’ve been watching too much Test cricket and didn’t know when to stop “batting on”.

By: Bonza

Bonza — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:22:43 +0000

My guess is that the SA mentality is that it is best to leave the “tour” with points and rely on home game wins. By taking the shot it runs down the clock and buffers from a loss of the bonus point for being within 7 – the only problem is that they have already had two home losses so chasing a draw might have been better. The difference in effect was 1 point with less risk

By: Greg Russell

Greg Russell — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:09:23 +0000

There was a similar situation in the Waratahs-Bulls match, where K Beale – never a reliable kicker! – was instructed to take a difficult (by his standards) penalty attempt with about 5 minutes to go and NSW 6-20 behind.

What on earth was that about? Realistically NSW’s only chance of salvaging anything from this match was to score a converted try and get a bonus point for a close loss. Kicking the penalty would have brought NSW no closer to that possibility.

Not surprisingly, Beale missed.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:10:37 +0000

I just saw it as giving themselves a chance to win rather than draw. Having said that, it was a difficult kick so going for the try might have been a better option.

By: Nird99

Nird99 — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:55:56 +0000

I too was at the game and was so shocked to see the decision to kick for goal.

I will add a little more to the scene. The brumbies were well and truly on the backfoot. the times they had the ball in the last few minutes they had either kicked it away or made silly mistakes (as both teams did most of the night). The stormers had been applying more and more pressure as the game ground along. The brumbies looked tired and exhausted.

And as rich_daddy said surely a draw is better than a loss, they would have shared the points instead of getting one for a bonus point. The Brumbie now move ahead on the table and effectively end the stormers chance of semi finals football.