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The Stormers opened their Super Rugby Unlocked campaign with a 23-17 win over the Lions in Newlands on Saturday. DYLAN JACK reports.
Against the Lions, who were playing in their second game of the tournament, the Stormers spent much of the first half looking a lot like a team that was playing in its first.
The hosts battled the aggressive speed of the Lions, who deservedly took a 10-6 lead at halftime. That forced Damian Willemse and Warrick Gelant back and both players kicked aimlessly, giving the dangerous Lions three chances to counter.
In that sense, the Lions will be disappointed that they have not made more use of their available opportunities. Unsurprisingly, Captain Elton Jantjies was once again at the center of all the good in attack, preparing Sibahle Maxwane for a fantastic counter-attack attempt. After a quiet debut, Burger Odendaal announced his arrival with a couple of wonderful runs and put Jantjies to try under the posts after throwing two dummies and dodging Willemse.
Jantjies-Maxwane-Kriel-Jantjies-Maxwane
A brilliant attempt at @LionsRugbyCo 👏 #SuperRugbyUnlocked #STOvLIOpic.twitter.com/e3OboHTzdm
– SA Rugby Magazine (@SARugbymag) October 17, 2020
There was a stage in the second half where the Lions seemed to be getting into their stride, starting to dominate territory and putting impromptu Stormers three behind under a lot of pressure with some well-placed kicks.
At this stage, Rikus Pretorius made a good defensive reading and intercepted a pass, running a good 40 yards for the Stormers’ first try. Regardless of whether that came against the running of the game, it seemed to shoot the Stomers as, in his best period of pressure, Dan du Plessis rolled an inning and stretched over the try line to extend his lead to 13 points. .
However, there was a grandstand finale. A terrible defense from the Stormers allowed Odendaal to fight his way from inside his own half and put Jantjies under the posts. From there, the Lions increased the pressure, camping near the Stormers’ test line, but the opportunity for a winning attempt was dashed by a handling error.
Ultimately, the Stormers deserve a lot of credit for their response in the second half after their poor first half, especially beating a team that has had more time to decide on their combinations.
Stormers – Attempts: Rikus Pretorius, Dan du Plessis. Conversions: Damian Willemse (2). Penalties: Willemse (3).
Lions – Tries: Sibahle Maxwane, Burger Odendaal, Elton Jantjies. Conversions: Jantjies (2). Penalties: Jantjies.
Stormers – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Subs: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Nama Xaba, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Michal Haznar.
Lions – 15 EW Viljoen; 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Burger Odendaal, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 Sibahle Maxwane, 10 Elton Jantjies (c), 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Len Massyn, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sti Sithole.
Subs: January 16-Henning Campher, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 20 MJ Pelser, 21 Hacjivah Dayimani, 22 Ross Cronje, 23 Gianni Lombard.
Photo: Ashley Vlotman / Gallo Images
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