The Crusaders have beaten the Stormers 45–28 in Christchurch in a game that chopped and changed from entertaining to messy to frustrating.
The Crusaders blew the traveling Stormers away in the first 20 minutes – four quick tries had the crowd wondering if they were going to see an absolute blow out.
The home side were not especially creative in their attack but were truly clinical – almost any chance they got ended up in points for the home side.
The Stormers really just made too many mistakes – their line out was unreliable and in the loose they were being turned off far too often. But to be fair they did fight their way back into the match in the second 20 minutes.
They played to their strengths and kept the ball in their forwards more often and let them smash away into the Crusaders defence. Eventually the Crusaders couldn’t hold them out and the tourists went over for a try before the half time hooter sounded.
At half time it was 31-7 and while the result didn’t look in doubt there was still plenty of room for improvement for both sides.
The Stormers made the perfect start and scored quickly with a great break from their own half. They backed this up with another try after 54 minutes and with the Crusaders really struggling to retain any possession and the lead down to 10 the Stormers had their confidence back up. Surely this come back couldn’t go all the way?
Well, no. It couldn’t. The Stormers gave away too many penalties and mistakes continued and the Crusaders punched back with two quick tries to take the game well beyond the tourists.
Despite that the Stormers didn’t stop fighting and Kitshoff picked up his second try of the season with another strong set of phases through the forwards.
They were really at their best when they kept it tight and hammered away but there was no way they were going to beat the Crusaders this way.
The Stormers tried a final attack for points as the hooter sounded but they couldn’t execute and the Crusaders picked up an easy enough win in the end and their second victory of the season.
There were a surprising number of errors from both sides and each of them struggled to really get any control or rhythm in the game.
This will have frustrated the Crusaders most of all as they would have wanted to killed off the Stormers fight back far sooner.
For the Stormers it was a bad day overall really. Yes they scored four tries against the reigning champions and showed some real heart but they lost, their line out was really poor and they picked up a bad injury to key player Pieter-Steph du Toit in the second half.
There’s obviously a long way to go in the season but we’re seeing the same patterns as usual. The Kiwi sides are looking good and wins on the road are very hard to come by.
The Stormers are regarded as a decent South African side but the gap between them and the Kiwi sides is vast.
Final scores
Crusaders 45
Stormers 28
Old Bugger
Guest
First game on the road next week KK and Mounga out for a couple of months.......its always a challenge week in, week out. And quite correct that the Saders are missing key players like Moody, Franks, Read, Todd, Dagg and now Mounga. It seems, the injury curse isn't going to let the Chiefs and Saders, off the hook.....is it?? Just a quickie on Mounga's tackle/hit on PSdT.......its likely RM will escape any late judicial review but I thought if there was ever going to be a review, then this hit was going to be the marker. I mean PSdT was out cold. Not so, it seems but where are the TMOs, when you least expect them.....??
Stormers need to work on defensive organisation as a matter of urgency
Kia Kaha
Roar Guru
Thanks for the great blog and report, Oliver. The Chiefs have been ravaged by injuries but the Crusaders have their fair share of frontline players out. I think in the second half, a player like Matt Todd was missed most of all by the Crusaders. The Stormers were getting a roll-on and he's the type of player who can get in there and disrupt your rhythm. Let's see if Richie Mo'unga recovers. He's a huge attacking threat. It was a big blowout last year and I wonder if the players got that feeling in the sheds that the same was going to happen. Despite the messy errors, I think the Crusaders will have got a lot more out of that second half in terms of their preparation for the Hurricanes in Wellington. They won't get a safety cushion next round so they'll need to sharpen up on defence. Their danger lies in their ability to score when they get in the opposition red zone and deny the opposition points in their own red zone. The Stormers were able to batter their way over the line but the Hurricane backs will be the danger next round. I feel the travel factor will be most telling for the Hurricanes in the pack so that should play into the Crusaders' hands if they can close down the space and time of the Hurricanes backline, like they did with McKenzie et al. The Stormers' lineout really is a worry. They look good in the tight exchanges but they'll struggle for continuity if they can't fix that part of their game.