Stormers shut out Lions
27 Jan 2012
The Stormers kept the Lions tryless in their 28-6 victory at Newlands on Friday.
The Lions had the better of the territory initially and dominated the scrums for much of the contest, but struggled to use this platform to their advantage. Their lineout was also largely outplayed by that of the Stormers, and coach John Mitchell will be livid with the turnovers his side conceded in great attacking positions.
There were times when they excelled on defence, and Butch James brought his own brutish brand thereof to this warm-up fixture. Nevertheless, the Stormers managed to score three tries, the first via a patient build up through the phases. Gio Aplon struck soon after half-time with a breathtaking solo effort, and was on hand to finish a break by Gerhard van den Heever later in the match.
Typically, defence was the Stormers’ strongest attribute. They eventually conceded two yellow cards, one for De Kock Steenkamp and one for Aplon, and finished the game with 13 men, but still their defence managed to repel the Lions’ surge.
106 Comments
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27 Jan 2012, 23:49 pm
@>^..^< katman-48: You seem to forgetting who kicks your bum all the time here on Keo. Remember that I am invincible and clever.. nobody knows more than me. Sometimes I surprise myself with my breathtaking genius
@Chris4Lions-49: I have seen it all already… history repeats itself
27 Jan 2012, 23:52 pm
Lions missed Hollenbach, Rhodes and Jantjies, maybe Wikus, but like the rest of the old men he’s at least one season too long in the tooth now…
Rugby is a young man’s game, coaches that know their oats will realize this and harness the vigour of youth and only use experience where it is absolutely necessary and only where there isn’t adequate youthful cover in place.
Habana still flapping around doing pretty much diddly squat.
New look Bok selection squad
Taute / Viljoen
Aplon
De Jongh / Mapoe
Venter / Steyn
Engelbrecht
Goosen / Jantjies / Van Aswegen
Hougaard / Duvenhage
Botha / Alberts
Coetsee / Kolisi
Minnie / Brussow
Bekker / Etsebeth
Elstadt / Sykes / Vd Merwe
Oosthuizen / JdP
BdP / Chili
Greyling / Beast
27 Jan 2012, 23:55 pm
@Tuna-50: WTF you on about.. JM tried to use Butch again tonight and how kak was the Lions.. JM lost the Lions an investor with kak decision regarding Jantjies. Guma Tac could see that the Lions were not interested in winning hence their pull out. Big money spent on Butch and all the c unt could deliver was a couple of yellow cards and plenty penalties.
27 Jan 2012, 23:58 pm
@ashampoopaloo-52: I think the young guys you selected will play a part in the future, but not this year or the next except maybe for Taute, De Jongh, Minnie (young Guys) to play part this year.
28 Jan 2012, 00:19 am
Grant Fourie FdP can stay away they’re not needed
WO JdV Habana Butch can move over their time is nigh
Matfield Botha Smit can retire they’re klaar
Burger Smith can start planning their pension they’re almost klaar
there is so much youthful talent coming through to take these klaar gelag pensioners places its scary
Invest in youth now and build a new team to carry forward as far as 2019 the old guard are done let them R.I.P.
28 Jan 2012, 00:24 am
@youknowwho-53: You know exactly what I’m on about goldfish. Regarding tonight JM used Butch tonight because Jantjies arm is in a sling. JM lost the investor? HAHAHA!! Who brought Butch on board? GumaTac made it clear they did. The bs you spew on this site is fcking hilarious. Keep posting twit…
28 Jan 2012, 00:44 am
@Tuna-56: Guma Tac were advised that Butch was a good buy. They questioned that advice after. They found out that they were sold a dummy. Jantjies arm ina sling does not detract from the fact the Lions are kak without him
28 Jan 2012, 04:08 am
Lions are a joke… Currie Cup rugby is a joke… Kings will replace them in 2013 if the Cheetahs have a ‘decent’ S15 again…
One things for sure… there will never be a 6th weak South African side!
28 Jan 2012, 04:26 am
And we start to see what the Lions are really made of.
Stormers missing key players.
Lions send out virtually the same team that won them the CC (which was more like the Vodacom Cup_)
And the Lions still get hammered.
They haven’t gotten better. They’ll finish at the bottom of the SA conference again. Might even have a tough time finishing above the Hurricanes & Rebels.
28 Jan 2012, 04:28 am
@bryce_in_oz-58:
I think the CC will benefit from better structures in place, and only having 6 teams in there.
Also if the Springbok coach stops making use of 50 or so players throughout the year and rather sticks to his 26 (usual size of touring squad) or so players.
28 Jan 2012, 04:31 am
@youknowwho-57:
Puh-lease. The Lions are kuk. Can’t blame it on Jantjies not being there.
They got the easy road in the CC, against teams that suffered massive injuries orwere missing most of their best players to the Boks.
Lions might as well pack their bags. Kings will and should replace them, at least until they sort their **** out.
28 Jan 2012, 04:43 am
@hendrikp-60:
The ‘big’ comp is the S15 national conference… I reckon the smaller CC will only detriment those unions not in it…
Make the local conference the CC title and replace the CC with the VC… it will happen sooner or later anyway…
28 Jan 2012, 05:38 am
62 Bryce_in_Oz: you’d really love SARU to drop the Currie Cup wouldn’t you? So that your newly beloved Arsetralia is not the ONLY SANZAR partner without a domestic competition? Bwahahahaha
SARU generates mad revenue from the Currie Cup -from TV rights to sponsors – now why in their right mind would they kill that golden goose and end up in the same situation as Oz & b-itching about tri-nations matches in RWC years?
John o’Neill’s little coup will be repelled when this current contract is up for renewal, this super15 is cumbersome.
28 Jan 2012, 06:34 am
@Transformation-63:
Hey FATBOY will you ever again reach the physical level of the agile lithe ‘Black Cat’ Cele after all the whisky and beer and more that you ‘suip’.
Is it that nagging thought that causes you to lose sleep on a Saturday, very early , morning?
Be careful I know you to within 2 names but I will not ever write it here.
28 Jan 2012, 06:36 am
@bryce_in_oz-62:
They’ll leave Super Rugby before they ditch the Currie Cup. It’s just too important a competition in SA, which unfortunately has to be played during the international season.
28 Jan 2012, 07:12 am
ET: me a ‘Fatboy’? Hahahahaha
as to why i’m awake, it’s none of your f-ucking business!
whether you know my name or not is immaterial, a number of people here know who i am, it’s not a closely guarded secret.
28 Jan 2012, 07:19 am
The game was deemed not good enough to be broadcasted
Better keep it that way, rather run into any conclusion, what was the temperature at Newlands anyway?
28 Jan 2012, 07:21 am
@Transformation-66:
He doesn’t realise the sun’s already up here. He’s just looking for conversation because it’s after midnight where he is.
You must be chuffed the Kings are in Super rugby. Just hope it becommes the S16 and Sanzar reverts to the old system not this conference ****.
28 Jan 2012, 09:05 am
To add insult to injury, the mangy Lions Rugby Union are indeed in the financial dwang.
Their bleck investor had a hissy fit and threw his toys out the cot and has pulled out.
28 Jan 2012, 09:09 am
The Stormers were penalised 18 times to the lione 8 times
the stormers scrum was , at best, unconvincing….
A lot of hard work lays ahead ….
That scrum frightens the c rap out of me….gonna cost us again…..matter of time.
what I would do for a real mean tighthead.
beast out for 3 months by the way for those that dont know
28 Jan 2012, 09:13 am
@hendrikp-65:
Super Rugby ‘is’ rugby without it there’d be no money to keep players in RSA…
28 Jan 2012, 10:01 am
The Sharks should have a good Super15 campaign in 2012
Smit gone, Skyke is back and the Beast is off for 3 months, all the essential ingredients are in place
28 Jan 2012, 10:11 am
@Hondo-72: well you right about Plod…..
and sykes
as for beast.
my normal message to you bigot
farkoff
28 Jan 2012, 10:30 am
First off thanks to Katman for the ticket, and the beers.
The stormers outfit looked good, really well drilled and played very well as a unit.
Scrum looked shaky, we were going backwards most of the time.
Eben Etsebeth is coming on really nicely, he got around the park nicely, played the tight role really well and in one tackle picked up one of the Lions players right off his feet and drove him back.
Aplon looked his usual slippery best, the try after half time was sublime, he had nothing to work from and slipped and snaked his way through multiple defenders to score. He is a really classy player.
Juan de Jongh looked very pacey. He has fantastic acceleration and shot through a midfield gap only to fumble the ball later and kill the move.
Schalk was his usual self, enough said there, good game. Kolisi good game too, he gets around.
Koster has put on a kilo or 2, not a bad game at all
I’ll say this, against a team with a “fetcher” as everyone was talking about last week, we didn’t struggle at the breakdown at all. So point 1 to AC, haters 0.
The Butcher was kuk, Katman is right, on one tackle it looked like he tried to litterally jump up into the face of one of the WP backline and take his head off. Very poor judgement by Butch, it looks like his time has come and gone.
Bondisio as very good for the Lions, he’s a great player. Hendrik Roodt was also very good, he’s a seri-aaaas hitman and just loves to run into the opposition.
Taute looked solid, made some runs, shut down by the excellent Stormers defence though, on one occasion being tackled by Van Aswegen.
Gary Van As played well, a couple of errors at the beginning but settled in very well.
Burton came on in the second half and also played well. By then the Stormers had a substantial lead.
Lions were the master of their own disaster last night, they had more than a few promising attacking positions ruined through handling errors, some of them unforced and out of the blue. If they can get those kinks ironed out they will threaten everyone this season.
Remebering that this was a practice match with a few 1st team players on both sides not present, the game will be a different one when they meet again.
Cannot read too much out of this, the Lions were closer than the score suggests.
If the game can be summed up by one period of play, it’s when Gio was yellow carded with about 5 minutes to go and we still had Koster and Steenkamp on the yellow card bench. So 12 men on the field. Lions were 5 meters out from our line with the penalty from Gio’s card.
We held them out and turned the ball over. That sums it up best. Expect more huge defensive performances from the Stormers this season.
And expect more from the Lions this year, With Butch out and Elton in that very impressive backline will be a totally different unit.
Entertaining match if you were a Stormers supporter and Kudo’s to Katman for wearing his Lions jersey and sitting in a sea of blue screaming for his team with no regard for his personal safety.
28 Jan 2012, 10:38 am
@stormersboy-74:
Good summmary, Stormerboy.
Do you think you could take beers off katman for a living?
28 Jan 2012, 10:44 am
I just want to say something about this article:
After the embarrassing episode yesterday with the Keo staff (and Vrede especially) shamelessly punting Watson (their HSM client) for the Bok captaincy I now see that another HSM goose, Butch James “brought his own brutish brand thereof to this warm-up fixture”. Seriously!!???? You guys must be kidding. He was no good last night and almost got carded with his usual behaviour. even Katman thought he was “kuk”. enough said.
And btw we got 3 yellow cards, not 2 and at one stage for a short period were reduced to 12 men. Not 13.
Pull up your socks guys,
Seriously.
28 Jan 2012, 10:46 am
@IAAS-75: LOL he bought some I bought some.
And some pissed Lions supporter who didn’t have the guts to wear a jersey (although I doubt they make one in his size) bought us some, probably without even realizing it.
And credit to Katters for wanting to charge the guy 10 bucks to have his photo taken with him. LOL. True story.
28 Jan 2012, 10:52 am
@stormersboy-74: Etsebeth was magnificent
We are being done on the deck…..18 penalties to 8 and 3 cards for ineffective play at the breakdown.
We will miss Flo…..
28 Jan 2012, 10:53 am
@stormersboy-74:
You should also mention that the Stromers lineout was very good and stole numerous Lions ball.
Also that we were massively penalized at the breakdown, which allowed the Lions territorial advantage with the resultant kicks, not sure if we were that poor at the breakdown or that Peyper was getting it wrong, but hugely concerning from a Stormers perspective. Also De Kok Steenkamp seems to have a new lease of life,
Add Vermeulen, duvenhage, Andries and elstadt to the mix the stormers can only get better. Scrum and discipline 2 major worries that need addressing if we want to be taken seriously.
One thing this win will do is hopefully shut Katman up iro his anti stormers tirade, but I doubt it !!!
28 Jan 2012, 10:53 am
@stormersboy-77:
That’s katters for you. Sounds like a good evening.
But I think Mitchell will crack the whip now and all the Lions players will realise the difference between Super rugby and Currie Cup. Even if it was a warm-up match. There should be an improved performance against the Cheetahs.
And I also expect one or two changes in the Stormers starting line-up against the Cheetahs – just to give each player plenty of game time. Not forgetting there is still a match against the EP Kings.
28 Jan 2012, 10:59 am
I would like to see the territory and possession stats of the game…
seems we defended [ brilliantly ] for a large part of it…
Problem is that works against some teams…..
But will it work against the Saders and Reds?
And that scrum?
I know I sound hyper critical…..
But I know a great coach who always told me ” enjoy the victory for an hour or 2
then criticaly analyse what went wrong
and fix it’
28 Jan 2012, 11:02 am
@justrugby-79: Yes our lineouts were good. It must be quite intimidating to be throwing in against Etsebeth at the front of the lineout. Imagine him at the front with Bekker in the middle.
@grant10-78: We did give away some penalties but also turned over a lot of their ball and stopped a lot of their possession. So for me the jury is still out.
28 Jan 2012, 11:03 am
Koster not easily going to get dropped….
Kolsi is showing great form…
Nice problem to have at 7 and 8…
Kitshoff hopefuly plays against Cheetahs next weekend…upagainst Brussow willprove whether he can do the job….
28 Jan 2012, 11:10 am
@stormersboy-82: Brussow, Todd…Pocock…Steggmann….
Lets wait and see….
Super 15 played in good conditions where ball goes wide early….
The opensider specialist is crucial….
Lions had plenty of the ball……it was awesome defence that kepr them in check…..and a moment or 2 of brilliance bt VDH and Aplon….
I was also impressed with Joe P…..
Habana rather dissapointing but done well when shifted to outside centre….
It is a good start….
And importantly has highlighted the ares of concerns
so AC will know our weaknesses…..
and can work on them…….all in all…very good …exactly what a preseason game should provide…..
For me….these games are about highlighting concern areas….and the game certainly did.
Carstens needs to get a run at 3…..maybe he learned something in the NH….gotta shore up that scrum somehow…..Saders will destroy us….again
28 Jan 2012, 11:13 am
@grant10-84: Good points all.
As you say, lets hope we can improve on the weak points.
Scrum worries me the most out of all of them.
Pieterson as you say looked great, like he never left!
28 Jan 2012, 11:21 am
@stormersboy-85: Joe P is a crucial component there…we should never had let him go…
The team I would like to see get a run against Cheetahs….
15 joe p
14 g vdh
13 JDJ
12 JDV
11 APLON
10 G VAN ASWEGEN [ CLASS ]
9 duvenhage
8 koster
6 kitshoff
7 schalk
5 Bekker
4 etsebeth [ farken awesome last night truly bloody outrageous ]
3 Carstens
2 liebenberg
1 kitshoff
16 kolisi
17 Fourie
18 Johannes
19 quin roux
20 brock
21 groom
22 b francis
23 habana
24 brache
28 Jan 2012, 11:22 am
Then EP Kings lets see what Carr can do….and hopefully Vermeulen will also get a run there
28 Jan 2012, 11:25 am
@stormersboy-74: so it seems that handling and decision making was a weakness. This should improve with match fitness. Lineouts still a problem and Butch not in the same league as Elton. Mitch will do well to drop Butch and bring in Hein as Elton’s backup.
Work to do in some areas, result is immaterial … remember the guppies getting a hiding in last years warmup match.
28 Jan 2012, 11:28 am
Joe Pietersen has always impressed me. At one stage he was regarded as one of the quickest players in SA ( by Phil Pretorius at Maties). The lightie has pace, excellent hands, confident under the high ball and his defence is solid. And he can kick for poles. I like to believe that he has a future in the game. And I’m sure Heyneke will have a look at him. After all, he rates Stormers players highly. Think Sadie and JJ.
28 Jan 2012, 11:38 am
@RL-88: Yes, that wasn’t the only thing but certainly a major learning point for Mitchell to take from the game.
I think people forget just how good the Stormers are at closing down space and forcing errors though. Not all their errors were unforced.
Also I think the decision making could improve. The Lions were 5 yards out with 12 players on the field for the Stormers, 2 forwards missing and they didn’t go for a scrum, beggars belief really, They could have tied up the 8 forcing massive gaps on the outside, or if the Stormers didn’t commit backline players to the scrum they would have scrummed against 6 and could have walked that ball over the line.
Didn’t make sense.
It was one of those nights.
28 Jan 2012, 11:44 am
@stormersboy-90:
It was “one of those nights.”
Also got my tickets to see The Eagles.
28 Jan 2012, 12:29 pm
@IAAS-91: Fantastic.
Off outside for some R&R
Take it easy.
28 Jan 2012, 12:31 pm
@IAAS-89: PS Joe played very well. Came into the line a few times, made some stuff happen. He will make a real difference this year.
28 Jan 2012, 13:16 pm
@grant10-86:
Ja, i agree with that team. maybe JP du Plessis on the bench.
Elstadt might not be able to get back- Etsebeth is bigger, more athletic, better in the lineouts, nearly as physical etc….. but they can rotate- Etsebeth can play no 4 or 5.
And lets hope Gary can remain injury free…. the fact that he is such a courageous tackler (for his size) makes me fear for his safety (a bit like Jonny Wilkenson in that regard).
I am fairly positive for the season- lots of young talent all around.
28 Jan 2012, 13:47 pm
@Robzim-94:
Hi Rob
True but I worry about our quality of depth at centre. You could see last night how JDEV runs the backline, if he gets a serious injury I will be very concerned, same applies to JDEJ.
We have options but not the quality in depth right now at centre, that makes me very uncomfortable.
As you have said before, perhaps we must consider popgun Pete only as a centre !!
28 Jan 2012, 14:06 pm
@RL-88:
Chune your connections at the GLRU that if they need a couple of bucks to tide them over for the month I’m willing to lend them a few thousand but my interest charges are very high.
I’ll take Ellis Park as collateral.
28 Jan 2012, 14:38 pm
@justrugby-95:
I disagree. Compared to other SA franchises we’re well covered.
12. JdeV, JdJ, P. PGrant
13. JdJ, Habana, JP duP
Then there’s Brache.
28 Jan 2012, 17:36 pm
@ashampoopaloo-52: I agree with most of your squad but how does a player like PAT LAMBiE not make it also i think Killian from the Lions a great prospect…………Etsebeth was bloody awesome!!!Can’t wait to see him partnered with Bekker
28 Jan 2012, 17:48 pm
Its quite interesting how much the bloggers here take away from a match which was deemed not worth broadcasting?!
28 Jan 2012, 18:11 pm
Franny Louw having a very good game for Bath. It just emphasises what can be accomplished when the ‘Bond’ restrictions, be they of the ‘verligte ‘ or ‘verkrampte’ type, are eradicated and players are allowed to express their skillful components.
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