The Stormers were immensely proud of the fight they showed against the All Blacks in the opening match of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, but were left to wonder what could have happened in the encounter.
Up until the 68th minute of the clash at DHL Stadium, and in front of 47 000 rumbling fans, the Cape side threw everything they had at the visitors, but three scores in the final 10 minutes clinched a 38-21 victory for the Kiwis.
But even after conceding at the death, the Stormers still fought for an excellent penalty try that summed up their efforts of going toe-to-toe with the second-ranked international team in the world.
“Hopefully we did this great occasion justice,” Stormers’ director of rugby John Dobson said.
“There’s enormous pride in that changing room. I mean, I can’t fault anything about the team. It was a remarkable effort. We trained for three weeks. Obviously, it was always going to be a risk, you know, that first bit of contact. It was the first bit of contact since Dublin (in the United Rugby Championship semi-final against Leinster). So to put out that performance, we knew we said the first 5 or 10 minutes our heads would ring a bit.
“We went toe to toe with them but after the injuries we were reshuffled and eventually fell off. I don’t know who finished at scrumhalf, sometimes it was Seabelo (Senatla) or Warrick (Gelant) and we ended with a loose forward on the wing.”
Dobson confirmed that Imad Khan picked up a serious knee injury, replacement scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenhage broke his arm in his final game for the Stormers, while captain Ruhan Nel limped off the field shortly after half-time with a calf strain. Loosehead prop Vernon Matongo also had an icepack on his bicep when he left the field.
While it was a brilliant clash for the Cape side to be involved in, they could be left to count the cost of Khan’s early loss. Dobson did not sound too positive about his injury and it is expected that he will be out for six to eight weeks. He could be back for the start of the Stormers’ home games in the new URC season.
