Stormers v Blues: A great away win under the microscope
Having some time on my hand and the benefit of recording the game on MySky and being able to rewind, I made extensive notes of the Stormers v Blues game and put it under the microscope, particularly to look at the performance of the Blues. Were the Blues really that great, or ...?
Let me start with this, the Blues win was awesome and I'm nothing taking away from that. As a team, they could only play what was in front of them - to use a familiar cliché - but it has to be said, the Stormers were awful. They made so many mistakes and gave away so many penalties that Otēre Black's boot worked overtime. Black was responsible for 18 of the Blues 33 points alone, 12 of them from penalty goals.
Black's return has come just in time for the Blues' tour. Otēre steering the ship has made such a difference to the Blues' performance! There can't be any doubt that he must wear that 10 jersey until Barrett is fully operational. At the same time, Perofeta seems to feel right at home at fullback, making clear again today that that's his right spot, not first five-eighth. He had some nice touches in this game, too, particularly that nice break in the lead-up to Marchant's first try.
Speaking of the wingers, Merchant had a very good game and scored two awesome tries. Mark Tele'a also showed promise. While not able to finish his attacks with a try today, it was Telea who drew in defenders while trying to find a hole in the Stormers' defensive line in the 40th minute, thus creating an overlap for his team mates, which eventually resulted in a great team try for the Blues, Marchant's second. Unfortunately, a small blight on Telea's performance was the yellow card, which IMO was fair.
Best Blues stats: clean breaks / defenders beaten: Perofeta 2 / 5 Marchant 2 / 5 Telea 1 / 9 Sotutu 1 / 6
Nock has, I think, done enough in this game to earn himself another start next week. Although he started a bit slow, his passing is much better than Ruru's. His defence wasn't tested enough, but he did make all four of his tackles. It will be interesting to see how he goes against the Canes.
Now, the forwards. There were fewer stand-outs for me in the pack, but Tuipulotu showed great leadership and lead by example. He was dominant both on attack and defence. Papali'i also had a good game. Less consistently, also Robinson and Eklund were good, particularly on defence.
Best Blues stats: tackles: Eklund: made 9 tackles, missed 0 Robinson: made 6, missed 1 Tu'ungafasi, Tuipulotu, Telea: made 5, missed 0
The Blues dominated the breakdown. The the stats on turnovers don't quite reflect how much better than the Stormers they were IMO, with ESPN reporting 13 turnovers conceded by the Stormers against the 10 from the Blues.
Unfortunately, there were also areas that didn't go so well. While the stats show that the Blues won 100% of their scrum, this doesn't reflect how the scrums went. There were an awful lot of resets, and both Mafileo and Karl T struggled at times; I assume that's why Ofa Tu'ungafasi was subbed on early. The line-out throws need some improvement, too, with Eklund responsible for a few wobbly throws. Passing wasn't always good in this game either, with particularly TJ Faiane butchering a few chances on attack, although a great wide pass to Marchant (for his first try) was awesome.
And now, Rieko. Is centre his spot? Not sure. He was very ineffective in the first half; missed an absolutely crucial tackle, the one that lead to the second Stormers' try. A failed grubber kick, bad offload (leading to a knock on) and a few other mistakes, it wasn't his day, despite making most runs and metres run. All in all, Rieko didn't have a great game, but that may just be because of the positional switch or the fact that he returned from injury.
Sotutu was completely invisible in the first half, but seemed to get into the game a bit more in the second half, with a nice break early in the half, and good defence. Nice try-saving tackle at the end of the game from the man on debut, Tolai.
My verdict: The Stormers were bad, really bad. Several line-outs went wrong, either not straight or overthrown. Multiple knock ons and bad passes, but their scrambling defence held reasonably well at times, especially if you consider what the Blues threw at them. They did force the Blues to make mistakes.
The Blues were good, some really nice attacks resulting in well-deserved tries, but I can't help thinking that they should have done more in this game and secured the bonus point. Nevertheless, it's a great result, not having won in Cape Town for 16 years, so they can only be happy with that.
Two wins from the South Africa tour, 8 points in the bag. Well done!
Final point: I hope the Citing Commissioner will have another good look, with the help of more camera angles, at that high tackle from the Stormers no. 19 on Duffie. Direct contact with the head, should IMO have been, at least, a yellow card. Not that it would have mattered with half a minute to go, but he seemed to deserve it.
My MVP: shared between Black and Marchant Best backs: Black, Marchant, followed by Perofeta Best forward: Tuipulotu, followed by Papali'i Disappointing: R Ioane, Karl T Quiet (compared to previous games): Sotutu
Full time: Stormers 14 - 33 Blues (HT: 14 - 27)
@nzzp said in Stormers vs Blues:
I really like Plummer, but I can now see why they went out for Black from teh Canes.
Black was with the Blues a year before Plummer started.
Plummer is still at the apprenticeship age for a ten. He’s 21, 3 years younger than Josh Ioane (although I think Plummer will become a 12 when Zarn is ready for NPC)
That was Blacks best SR game. He was bloody good last week too. He’s responded well to the looming Barrett
@Tim said in Stormers vs Blues:
How is Pierce playing?
Good enough to keep starting. No complaints about any part of his game.
I think MacDonald will go back to Goodhue when he’s fit though. He rates him and he’s the lineout caller
I was not expecting that at all.
Completely dominated the Stormers and played smart, in the right parts of the field. Makes such a difference having a good goal kicker.
Nock was great, his best game in five years easily.
The Rieko change was less successful, I still think he’s more valuable for us on the wing.
Perofeta was brilliant at fullback.
But the forwards, man they were brutal. Only black mark was the lineout. So great seeing Patrick smashing people.
Some amazing stats showing the Blues dominance in this game -
Blues ------------------- Stormers
429 Metres carried 201
120 Carries 68
76 Tackles 142
9 Missed Tackles 37
37 Defenders beaten 9
7 T/Overs won 3
88 Rucks won 47
1 Rucks lost 2
13 Lineouts won 11
2 Lineouts lost 4
8 Scrums won 4
6 Pens conceded 11
100% Goal Kicking 100%
@Daffy-Jaffy said in Stormers vs Blues:
Some amazing stats showing the Blues dominance in this game -
Blues ------------------- Stormers
429 Metres carried 201
120 Carries 68
76 Tackles 142
9 Missed Tackles 37
37 Defenders beaten 9
7 T/Overs won 3
88 Rucks won 47
1 Rucks lost 2
13 Lineouts won 11
2 Lineouts lost 4
8 Scrums won 4
6 Pens conceded 11
100% Goal Kicking 100%
Dominated completely across the park. Was quite the change of pace to be completely relaxed watching a game from 10mins in.
@Stargazer good writeup.
Not sure about Sotutu though - he did heaps for mine. In gneeral, the forwards were really impressive
Relatively fair write up, the big factor I think was the heat and the fitness of the Stormers. Just like last year when they faked a series of injuries to get stoppages, they struggled when the pace of the game increased.
The consistent pressure from our pack just made that worse. Whenever they tried to hit it up they were gang tackled backwards. The work ethic was huge.
Can single out Robinson as a good example of that, being a pest in the last minute of the game with the result safe. Just never stopped coming.
One thing I’d add in Riekos favour is he was skipped a lot. The Blues were using him as a decoy and he attracted multiple defenders. Happened about three times and we got the ball out to an in marked player each time.
I think he’s great on attack, his passing was very good and he draws well and has a great work rate, and his stats show how effective he was. Making those metres at centre without a huge break shows that.
Defensively, clearly needs work.
And I saw a comment about his pace above. His calf problems are behind him now, he showed in the first game that’s he back to full speed.
@Stargazer, thanks for write up. On reflection, I agree Stormers were very disappointing. One player who was symbolic for me was PSDT, World POF, who seemed pretty anonymous, despite the peroxide.
Blues did Stormers over at breakdown, which pointed to difference Papali'i made -- but were the Stormers just poor?
Rieko was well controlled by them. Not much X factor.
Karl T seemed to have edge when Stromers pushed straight. Louw sevral times was allowed to bore in on Eklund. The one time Karl T countered by lifting HE was pinged.
I thought Jaco had a good match, which is not something I say often about Saffar refs.
All said and done, the tour has forged something at the Blues, and long may it continue.
Great coaching ?
Balance of the side almost right. Agree with @KiwiMurph that the 9,10,15 combo looked the best of all the different ones that have played this season.
Ioane looks very short of a gallop.
@Hooroo said in Stormers vs Blues:
Just seen on Facebook
5 weeks in and the circle has been completed.
The blues beat the stormers who beat the hurricanes who beat the sharks who beat the highlanders who beat the brumbies who beat the chiefs who beat the crusaders who beat the blues....
It's almost like this a close competition or something 
Hopefully the neagtive commentators will appreciate the comp instead of complaining all the time.
@Kirwan said in Stormers vs Blues:
@Hooroo said in Stormers vs Blues:
Just seen on Facebook
5 weeks in and the circle has been completed.
The blues beat the stormers who beat the hurricanes who beat the sharks who beat the highlanders who beat the brumbies who beat the chiefs who beat the crusaders who beat the blues....
It's almost like this a close competition or something
Surprisingly close. Blues have finally turned a corner and it looks as though the Crusaders are coming back to the pack. Chiefs and Canes still doing what they do without looking amazing and then there is the Highlanders.
Only three really ropey teams in the comp. Highlanders, Sunwolves and Bulls
@Dice said in Stormers vs Blues:
Crazy how much better we've become at defending the maul this season. It use to be automatic 5 pointers or penalties for opposition teams when they would go for a lineout drive inside our 22.
Zero tries from a maul through the first 5 games.
And defended multiple against SA sides. Hats off to the forward coach, and overall selection.
@Kirwan said in Stormers vs Blues:
@Dice said in Stormers vs Blues:
Crazy how much better we've become at defending the maul this season. It use to be automatic 5 pointers or penalties for opposition teams when they would go for a lineout drive inside our 22.
Zero tries from a maul through the first 5 games.
And defended multiple against SA sides. Hats off to the forward coach, and overall selection.
Kudos to Coventry. I thought he had maybe lost his touch after last season, but the pack has mostly looked good this season. Getting the maul defense fixed is a minor miracle.
@Tim After all those years of bad injuries stopping his progress its good to see Ekland getting his chance at 27 years old. Throwing has always his work on but training full time must be helping. Young Tolai also impressed me with his energy and work rate when he came on, and he is a big unit for a Hooker at 119kgs.
@Tim Selection of the Half backs will be very interesting when Christie is available. I imagine that MacDonald had him pencilled in as his starter before he was injured. So maybe Ruru misses out.
@Daffy-Jaffy Yeah, I thought Tolai had a good NPC and was unlucky not to get a contract.
@Tim I watched Tolai from the sideline last season at a Blues Development team game. He was very aggressive and busy and always looking for a tackle to make, a ruck to hit or for a hit up to carry.
@Dice I thought we conceded a few against the Chiefs didn't we? Either way I'm glad we're showing signs of improvement there as I haven't seen the last few games (I think I should stay away from watching more often) . It used to drive me nuts when sides would get automatic 5 pointers against us on the maul.
@Tim said in Stormers vs Blues:
Really good to see Nock being more assertive and bossing and pushing his forwards around. Would love to see him back himself and have a run.
There was one bit where he scooted into space and then threw a pass to support runners. Was great to see - so often it's tempting to die in the hole with that stuff.
Your 9 has to snipe occasionally to keep defences honest. Doubt leads to indecision, which leads to space
@nzzp that is something I have always had an issue with in his game, he has wheels but rarely tests the defence and is therefore easy to defend.
His issue now is getting re-selected and backing it up.
@taniwharugby I'm not getting my hopes up for this weekend. PLaying after a long travel trip like that is really tough; particularly playing away. Expecting the Canes to win in the final quarter
@African-Monkey You're right, I forgot we conceded one against the Chiefs in the first half.
There was a try by Takeiaho in the 2nd half that was scored after a lineout drive, but we defended the maul so well, Takeiaho had to break off and run, so I don't really count that as conceding one from a maul.
@nzzp said in Stormers vs Blues:
@taniwharugby I'm not getting my hopes up for this weekend. PLaying after a long travel trip like that is really tough; particularly playing away. Expecting the Canes to win in the final quarter
It'll also be our 6th game in a row. I think we'll fair better in the return match at Eden Park, when hopefully that Beauden guy is in the line-up.
@nzzp said in Stormers vs Blues:
@taniwharugby I'm not getting my hopes up for this weekend. PLaying after a long travel trip like that is really tough; particularly playing away. Expecting the Canes to win in the final quarter
Yeah, travel and an away game against a NZ side, and no bye yet. Going to be a tough ask, just want to see another good performance.
@Kirwan their flight was delayed a day out of South Africa apparently. They only got back early hours this morning a day later than planned so thats a short turnaround.