It’s unanimous: Cape Town game was a Christmas Cracker

Winning captain Deon Fourie felt his team made it hard for themselves and his coach John Dobson was in agreement, but there appeared to be unanimous agreement that the Christmas derby between the DHL Stormers and the Vodacom Bulls was a game for the ages and fitting for the occasion.

Bulls coach Jake White has sometimes been accused of being less than magnanimous after losing to the Stormers in the past, but he can’t be accused of that this time.

He told the press conference after his side’s 26-20 defeat in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash watched by 40 000 people in an amazing atmosphere that he felt the referee and the TMO this time got it all spot on when it came to the big moments.

“Let me be clear, I am very disappointed, but that is because I really believed we had the team and the form currently to come down here and win,” said White.

“I wish I could figure out why the players appear to struggle to bring the same game to a Stormers match that they do against a team like say Saracens. Our first half was probably our worst half this season and we lacked discipline. But full marks to the Stormers. They have only lost twice here in the space of two years and there is a reason for us.

“I am just one in a long line of coaches that has sat here after games in the last two years trying to explain why we didn’t win. I thought it was a great game, in the best tradition of the Western Province v Northern Transvaal games of old, and I don’t think there were any Stormers fans in the ground who would not have been nervous at the end. We had the players to break out and win the game, and we really tried to do that. Some Bulls teams of the past might have been happy to settle for the bonus point.”

WHITE ACKNOWLEDGED SURPRISE AT STORMERS TACTICS

White further acknowledged that the Stormers coaches had surprised him on another night where the Stormers strategizing hit bulls eye.

“I really didn’t think they would kick on our back three like they did, I didn’t expect that,” he said.

In truth that strategy was one that Dobson had hinted at a week earlier, in the wake of the epic win over La Rochelle, which both he and White appear to agree may not have gotten enough recognition.

When it became clear that Ben Loader, the Stormers’ English wing, wouldn’t be playing, Dobson said he had full confidence in his 20-year-old replacement Suleiman Hartzenberg, saying that Hartzenberg, who only recently returned from injury, would be a match for the Bulls Springboks Canan Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse.

He was right about that. Hartzenberg was a standout on a night where he often bamboozled the Bulls defence. He is not a stepper but tends to swerve through attempted tacklers, and boy does he swerve well.

“Suleiman has been struggling with injuries for a while but he is back to full fitness and after a hit out against Zebre and another one against Leicester Tigers he has now regained full sharpness and I thought tonight he was outstanding,” said Dobson.

GUMEDE MADE A STATEMENT

Hartzenberg was not the only relative newcomer to shine though, and while young Cameron Hanekom, who has been such a revelation at No 8 in his first season for the Bulls, went off injured Mpilo Gumede came on and showed that he is probably yet another victim of the lamentably poor contracting that has been done at the Sharks in the past few years. How did they let him go?

“I thought Gumede was outstanding tonight. Unfortunately Cameron wasn’t feeling his best in this game, and did not let me know about it beforehand,” said White.

The game was certainly a great advert for both the established talent and the talent coming through in South African rugby, with Damian Willemse at fullback proving why his coach rates him as possibly the best fullback in the world, and doing well when forced to move around to other positions because of injury, and Manie Libbok completely upstaging his opposite number Marius Goosen.

Canan Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse, the Bulls’ Bok wings, were well marked but still made full use of their try scoring opportunities, both crossing for tries at crucial phases to keep their side in the game.

TWO DISALLOWED TRIES KEPT CAPE SIDE FROM TAKING CONTROL

The Bulls scored three tries to two and capitalised on every opportunity they had in the first quarter, when the Stormers were clearly the dominant team, which enabled them to lead 10-6 after 20 minutes.

But once the Stormers had reclaimed the lead through a try to Jean-Luc du Plessis, the Stormers always looked likely winners, though they were held back when what initially looked like two good tries were disallowed.

As Dobson put it afterwards, had either of those scores been allowed, and they were both close calls, the Stormers would probably have put the Bulls away. And yet he acknowledged that his opponents put in a mighty effort.

“The Bulls just wouldn’t go away, they made us really have to work hard for this win,” said Dobson.

The new Shield format, with only derby games counting for points to the local trophy, means the Stormers are back in the pole position where they have been for most of the last two years, but that isn’t what was important for Dobson.

“This was a huge game for us not just because it was against the Bulls but also because of our log position. We messed up a few games on our overseas tour, and that left us in a position where we have to win to keep in the race for a home playoff,” said Dobson.

“You have to win your home games in this competition, it is the same in that regard as the Champions Cup. So this was a huge game for us, as next week’s game (against the Hollywoodbets Sharks) will be.”

INJURY CONCERNS AHEAD OF SHARKS

The Stormers have a few more injury concerns to worry about before then to add to the ones that had already forced changes from their win over La Rochelle.

Replacement fullback Clayton Blommetjies wasn’t long on the field before he had to be stretchered off and he definitely won’t be available for next week, and neither will Du Plessis, who left the field before halftime with a groin issue.

On the positive side of the balance sheet next week’s game will see the return to action of regular inside centre Dan du Plessis (Jean-Luc’s cousin), who is a player Dobson feels has been sorely missed due to his injury absence in the first half of this campaign.

Du Plessis’s return should enable the Stormers to continue with Willemse in the last line of defence even though there is a chance Warrick Gelant will be over the injury that prevented him playing against the Bulls.

The Bulls will have a well earned rest due to next week’s scheduled game against the Emirates Lions having been moved to a later date and despite Saturday night’s defeat White and his men can rest easily.

Although they trail in the Shield, that is insignificant in comparison to their current log position - they are fifth to the Stormers’ eighth - and in the final analysis the Cape Town game was always more important for the Stormers than the Bulls.

The Stormers were fighting for survival after suffering four defeats in the competition.

“If we were offered this situation at the start of the campaign we would have been happy to settle for it, we are still the top South African team on the log and not many of our fans would have expected that to be the case going into Christmas,” said White.

NEITHER TEAM IS MICKEY MOUSE

White gives the appearance of being a trifle more mellow than he was on previous visits to Cape Town, and he can afford to be - his team lost but as he says not many go to DHL Stadium and win, with only Munster’s Graham Rowntree and the Lions’ Cash van Rooyen knowing what it is like to be a winning coach here in the URC.

And when it comes to his seven losses in a row record, White is right to point out that five of those defeats have come in Cape Town.


There were no Mickey Mouse teams in action in the Christmas derby, and neither team has a Mickey Mouse coach.

Neither was it a Mickey Mouse game on a night where the strength and quality of South African rugby was writ large in a clash played with test match intensity in a test match atmosphere.