Super 14

The Stormers got their Super 14 campaign off to a winning start, a 26-13 win over the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.

It was a 14-point blitz in the five minutes before half-time that proved the difference - two tries that put the visitors into a 26-6 lead at the break.

However, the Lions were far better after the break - displaying more energy and purpose - to not only keep the Stormers scoreless, but also produce the only points of the second half.

It was indeed a match of two halves.

The Stormers looked a class outfit in the first 40 minutes, but when Lions coach Dick Muir sent on all his bench personnel after the break, the home team looked more like a professional outfit.

But, as captain Cobus Grobbelaar said, it is no good playing catch-up rugby all the time and the gap was certainly far too big at the break.

Much of the pre-match focus was on the role that legendary All Black Carlos Spencer would play since signing for the Lions, but he had very little influence on the game - playing only the first 40 minutes.

Spencer was always trying things - his look-one-way-kick-the-other-way tactic the most common in the first half. He certainly showed some of those skills he is famous for, but his team didn't have much quality possession to begin with. And he also only lasted the first half.

The Stormers, dominating possession and territory in the first half, looked to be expansive - as the penalty count mounted against a Lions that showed a distinct disregard for calls from the referee to mind their discipline.

But once the Lions cleaned up their act they forced the visitors to defend more and negated the dangerous backline of the Cape Town outfit.

Spencer's first touch of the ball wasn't the magic everyone had expected. A skewed kicked handed the Stormers a line-out just on the Lions 22 and from that the visitors earned a penalty. Joe Pietersen made no mistake with the angled kick and inside three minutes the Stormers had a 3-0 lead.

However, from the restart the Lions won a penalty at an ensuing ruck and Earl Rose levelled the scores.

The penalties continued to mount and the next shot at goal, from Pietersen in the 10th minute and from 55 metres out, was wide of the mark.

Three minutes later Pietersen made amends for his earlier miss, when he slotted his second penalty from 30 metres out, following yet another breakdown penalty. And the Stormers fullback made it 9-3 in the 19th minute - yet another penalty at a ruck.

His first attempt at a drop-goal was less successful, as Pietersen hardly got the ball off the ground and not even in the general direction of the posts.

The Lions continued to pay for their lack of discipline as a scrum penalty in the 26th minute saw Pietersen make it 12-3 in a game that at this stage had produced very little to enthuse about.

Rose narrowed the gap to six points, 6-12, when he slotted a penalty in the 30th minute - Stormers Schalk Burger being penalised for a dangerous tackle on Spencer.

The first try came in the 35th minute - a simple move in which Bryan Habana cut the Lions defence to shreds and drew the cover defence, before putting Pietersen over in the corner. With Pietersen adding the extras, the visitors' lead had grown to 19-6.

Former Lion Jaque Fourie, who said he left Johannesburg to experience a winning culture, added to his former team's misery with the second try - stepping through some sloppy defence and going over under the uprights after a period of sustained pressure. Pietersen made it 26-6 with the conversion.

The visitors took that 20-point lead into the half-time break.

The second half started with Lions coach Dick Muir making a rash of changes - Jacques Coetzee, Michael Killian, Todd Clever and Derrick Minnie all taking to the field as the home team looked for that spark that was clearly missing in a forgettable first half. Earl Rose shifted to flyhalf and Killian was at fullback, with Spencer watching from the sidelines..

It seemed to have the desired affect, as the Lions suddenly looked far more energetic and launched a series of strong raids on the Stormers line. They even had a few penalties, which they turned into line-outs as they kept up the early pressure and asked some big questions of the Stormers defence.

Killian even found his way over the line, but the TMO was called upon and he ruled that the ball was held up. From the resulting five-metre scrum another penalty came and a warning to the Stormers for continued infringements.

However, the visitors stood firm and eventually won a turnover in the tackle.

With cramp setting in, all their replacements already on the park and another 20 minutes to go, the Lions looked to have blown the one chance they had of making a comeback in the game.

But credit to them for maintaining their pace and energy. And they got their reward for a period far superior to the sloppy first-half effort.

It came in the form of a Killian try - when he took a pass from a strong-running Franco van der Merwe and cut clean through the Stormers defence. With Rose adding the conversion, the Lions, at 13-26, looked as if they were finally going to launch that comeback.

Pietersen had two chances to put the mach beyond doubt going into the final 10 minutes, but his penalty attempts both drifted wide.

The Lions tried desperately for that one try that will put them in bonus-point range, but they left themselves down with some over-elaborate play.

Man of the match: For the Lions you had the usual energetic, all-action performance from captain Cobus Grobbelaar, wings Wandile Mjekevu and Tonderai Chavhanga looked to get involved all the time, and Earl Rose had a satisfactory half when he moved to No.10. Bryan Habana and Jaque Fourie played crucial roles in that first-half blitz by the Stormers and generally showed they were good value for the large sums of cash forked out to lure them to Cape Town. Stormers captain Schalk Burger was his usual busy self, with fellow loose forward Duane Vermeulen and Francois Louw also making major contributions. Joe Pietersen hardly put a foot wrong in the first half, but seemed to slip off his game after the break. Our award goes to a member of the losing team - replacement scrumhalf Jacques Coetzee, who looked a very useful sort when he came on at half-time. He was everything the Lions lacked in the first half - energy, pace and precision.

The scorers:

For the Lions:
Try: Killian
Con: Rose
Pens: Rose 2

For the Stormers:
Tries: Pietersen, Fourie
Cons: Pietersen 2
Pens: Pietersen 4

Teams:

Lions: 15 Earl Rose, 14 Tonderai Chavhanga, 13 Deon van Rensburg, 12 Doppies la Grange, 11 Wandile Mjekevu, 10 Carlos Spencer, 9 JP Joubert, 8 Jonathan Mokuena, 7 Franco van der Merwe, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar (captain), 5 Willem Stoltz, 4 Jacques Lombard, 3 Ross Geldenhuys, 2 Hannes Franklin, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Charles Emslie, 17 JC van Rensburg, 18 Todd Clever, 19 Derrick Minnie, 20 Jacques Coetzee, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Michael Killian.

Stormers: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger (captain), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 De Kock Steenkamp, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 JC Kritzinger, 18 Anton van Zyl, 19 Pieter Louw, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Lionel Cronjé, 22 Sireli Naqelevuki.

Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Mark Lawrence (South Africa), Kobus Wessels (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)