Harlequins hammer sub-standard Stormers in huge win

Harlequins turned the Twickenham Stoop into a shop of horrors for a Stormers second-string outfit who may as well have stayed in Cape Town, such was their non-arrival to play a game of rugby in South West London, writes Mark Keohane.

The Stormers were unbeaten in 10 matches in all competitions this season, but they gift-wrapped the unbeaten record and handed it to Harlequins in the most charitable way. This was a no-show from the Cape Town-based players.

The Investec Champions Cup is the toughest club competition in the sport, but that is when strength plays strength. When a sub-standard match day squad is put on a plane to mix it with a home team at full strength, the odds favour a blow-out.

What was unexpected was the type of crash we’d see from the Stormers in losing 61-10.

Harlequins, whose players received a letter from the owner earlier in the week saying shape up or ship out, couldn’t have asked for a more generous opponent than the Stormers, who conceded a four-try bonus point within 20 minutes and trailed by 54 points in the 65th minute.

Harlequins, with the win, have qualified for the last 16 of the competition, having won two from three matches, but they went into the match having lost eight matches in all competitions from their last nine. In those eight defeats they conceded on average 41 points a match.

Yet, for 65 minutes, they kept the Stormers scoreless and scored 54 points.

The Stormers started the weekend at the top of the Pool but are now in third place and must beat Leicester Tigers in Cape Town next weekend to qualify for the last 16.

Leinster, who edged La Rochelle with an 81st minute penalty in Dublin, will top the table and Harlequins will end either second or third. The Stormers, with victory against Leicester, would finish second.

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The Stormers Director of Rugby John Dobson made a decision to rest 11 of his first choice players, who beat the Bulls in the URC a week ago. He felt the players needed the rest to go back to back against the Tigers and then the Sharks in the URC coastal derby.

They may do so, but this was a risk one felt was not necessary from Dobson, in the context of both competitions.

The changes could have been less and the experience of some big names more at the Stoop.

Harlequins were at their lowest and there for the taking. A half-decent Stormers line-up would have got the job done, but the limitations of the match 23 sent to South West London were badly exposed. This was the equal of watching Western Province in the Currie Cup, when they won just one match.

The odd individual fronted, most notably flanker Ben-Jason Dixon, but there was nothing outside of his effort to toast.

The Stormers were feeble in defence and passive in everything they did. They provided a red carpet for Harlequins and treated Harlequins like rugby royalty. In return, Harlequins played like rugby royalty. If you did not know, you would have thought Harlequins were defending an unbeaten 10 matches streak and the Stormers had won one from nine.

I backed the Stormers to win, given how poor Quins have been, but I never for a moment thought the Stormers, unbeaten in 10 matches, would so easily fold.

I felt Dobson could have picked a stronger match 23, with greater balance, won against Harlequins and mixed and matched to get the win in Cape Town against a Tigers team with one win from three matches.

The Stormers, in selections, approach and performance, got it wrong.

It is a result that some would argue is secondary if the Stormers, back to full strength, win next weekend, but any club with the ambition of the Stormers does their brand an injustice in losing 61-10 on the road.

The hammering could have been avoided.

What the match did show is that the Stormers reserve depth, when presented as a collective, is currently not good enough. Individuals within that group of players are good enough when playing with the big boys left in Cape Town to rest their legs and refresh their minds.

Dixon and Damian Willemse are class players but on Sunday that is where it ended for the Stormers.

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