Our final Saturday match takes us down to Newlands, where the injury ravaged Stormers take on the Waratahs, who start their two week tour in Cape Town before moving inland to Bloemfontein.
The Stormers are have selected new import Jebb Sinclair to start his first match, after making his debut early in the match last weekend, replacing the injured Nizaam Carr, while Don Armand is the only loose forward cover on the bench. The Stormers have to beat the Waratahs in order to stay in touch with the Bulls, who currently head up the SA conference, as well as the overall log.
The Waratahs do not really have anything to play for at this stage, except maybe a little pride as they are bobbing in mid table, neither coming nor going. They welcome back to the starting line up the impressive Bernard Foley, while Sarel Pretorius drops to the bench, being replaced by livewire Brendan McKibbin.
Stormers: 15. Joe Pietersen, 14. Gio Aplon, 13. Juan de Jongh, 12. Jean de Villiers (captain), 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Peter Grant, 9. Dewaldt Duvenage, 8. Jebb Sinclair, 7. Rynhardt Elstadt, 6. Siya Kolisi, 5. Andries Bekker, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Brok Harris, 2. Tiaan Liebenberg, 1. Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16. Deon Fourie, 17. Frans Malherbe, 18. De Kock Steenkamp, 19. Don Armand, 20. Louis Schreuder, 21. Burton Francis, 22. Gerhard van den Heever
Waratahs: 15. Bernard Foley, 14. Tom Kingston, 13. Rob Horne, 12. Adam Ashley-Cooper, 11. Atieli Pakalani, 10. Berrick Barnes, 9. Brendan McKibbin, 8. Dave Dennis, 7. Chris Alcock, 6. Rocky Elsom (c), 5. Sitaleki Timani, 4. Dean Mumm, 3. Sekope Kepu, 2. John Ulugia/Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1. Benn Robinson.
Res: 16. Josh Mann-Rea, 17. Jeremy Tilse, 18. Kane Douglas, 19. Jono Jenkins, 20. Wycliff Palu, 21. Sarel Pretorius, 22. Daniel Halangahu
Referee: Craig Joubert
Assistant Ref 1:Stuart Berry
Assistant Ref 2:Christie Du Preez
TMO : Shaun Veldsman
Tahs PK
3-0
Pietersen over in the corner
Stormers 5-3 Waratahs
Conversion by Grant is missed
Conversion missed
Stormers 5-3 Tahs
18 min
Pietersen PK over
Stormers 8-3 Tahs
22 min
@Die Kriek (Comment 2) : 4th FL try!
@JarsonX (Comment 6) : Would love a couple more tries (but this is the Stormers) and plenty more kicks (which are obtainable)
Stormers look like they’re trying to play more ‘pretty rugby’
And it brings them try nr.2
Liebenberg in the corner
Stormers 13-3 Tahs
32min
Grant doesn’t have enough distance on the conversion
Pietersen het sy Powerade gedrink
Getting massive distance on his clearance kicks
@JarsonX (Comment 122) :
The commentating is shit today
@JarsonX (Comment 136) :
The standard of LIVE score updates is way below par
I’ll take that as a compliment, big guy.
5 tries now, but the kickers aim is out
@klempie (Comment 11) : You were missed
@klempie (Comment 11) : Hope that isn’t aimed at my updates
Grant gets a PK
HT Stormers 16-3 Tahs
@JarsonX (Comment 13) : Sorry, man. I was watching The Avengers (which was slightly underwhelming, I must say). Buddy didn’t want to catch the late show as his missus was at home alone. Won’t be able to do next week either as am in Port Shepstone for my gran’s 90th. Nice to be missed though.
@Die Kriek (Comment 14) : Not at all man. Didn’t even know you had taken responsibility. I was just skimming over the Sharks-Cheetahs match blog after I got out of The Avengers and saw Jarson’s complaint.
@klempie (Comment 17) : Just filling in for this game, I type too slowly for an exciting game, so a Stormers game is perfect for my debut
Kickoff 2nd half
@Die Kriek (Comment 18) : Baha! @ Stormers
Dunno why Rich didn’t step up to the plate. Was an away game so he wasn’t at the stadium. Thanks for the effort.
Horne scores for the Tahs
McKibben converts
Stormers 16-10 Tahs
43 min
So I just wanna ask, does it make any difference to the sharks contentions whether the stormers win or lose tonight?
McKibben slots a PK
Stormers 16-13 Tahs
47min
Stormers doing same as last week
This may seem cynical, but I’m rooting for a Stormers loss here. If they don’t get any points then we can pass them next week!
PK over by Grant
Stormers 19-13 Tahs
49 min
@CapeShark (Comment 22) : Yes and no, depends if you want to win the conference or keep the chasing pack at bay (and shame the Aussies in the process)
@klempie (Comment 24) : well then, in that case, go waratahs! Sharks don’t deserve to overtake the Stormers but it just shows you what the bonus points (or lack thereof) can do for a team.
@klempie (Comment 24) : I am torn on this one, I want the Sharks to pass the Stormers, but I do enjoy seeing the Aussies get beat
@CapeShark (Comment 27) : If the Stormers lose here and next week to the Sharks, and if the Bulls don’t get any points against the Chiefs, then we’ll be RIGHT up there challenging for SA conference winner. That may let the Brumbies up into second though.
Kepu slaughters a try 5m out
@Die Kriek (Comment 30) : And almost slaughtered Liebenberg in the process
@klempie (Comment 29) : that scenario would have been outrageous 3 weeks ago. My, how things have changed… for the better!
Shadow on for Pietersen. Sorry Jarson, no more FL points from him
Super Sarel is on, and into the action almost immediately
OK 10 minutes to go. if the waratahs can just pull back a try…
Getting tense now, atm Tahs looking like they want it more
Stormers into the Tahs 22m, only 2 min left
Dean Mumm goes down and stays down, out cold! Ref stops the game immediately, doesn’t look good!
Tahs holding on, and the Stormers just kick it out to end the ball game
FT Stormers 19-13 Tahs
@klempie (Comment 29) : So positief soos ^n AIDS toets. I laaik it ou broer
Why they didn’t try for the 3 points there is beyond me.
And stormers take it. The sharks will receive no favours, and will have to make every 5 points count from now on.
And that concludes our live(ish) coverage of tonights game. Hope you all had a pleasant experience, please leave your seats and trays in their upright positions and exit in an orderly fashion.
do we have the attack to get through these boys? I’m worried… cos our indiscipline is going to kill us if we’re not scoring the tries.
Thanks Kriek. It was, er, most informative.
@CapeShark (Comment 45) : Was my first time