Following the Stormers’ crushing 28-27 Investec Champions Cup round of 16 defeat to RC Toulon, here’s how we rated John Dobson’s charges.
Stormers player ratings
15 Warrick Gelant: Covered the backfield well and added some flash to the attack, making good decisions in possession for the most part. He did overcook a punt into the Toulon 22, but wasn’t as wasteful as he has been in recent matches. 7
14 Damian Willemse: Sensationally jinked past Corentin Mezou and rode two tacklers and brilliantly sent Hacjivah Dayimani charging through the Toulon defence, an attack that almost resulted in a try. He made good impacts throughout the 80 minutes and while he was solid on the wing again, he simply needs to get more touches. 7
13 Ruhan Nel (c): Little fuss or frills about his performance. Toulon did cause some trouble for the Stormers‘ defence, but Nel covered well for the most part. 6
12 Dan du Plessis: Du Plessis toiled well up against the brilliant Juan Ignacio Brex for large portions of the match, but the Italian centre did manage to unlock the Stormers through the midfield. He had an opportunity to score just before the break but was bundled into touch. He conceded three turnovers before he was replaced early in the second half. 6
Toulon v Stormers: Five takeaways as ‘season-defining’ win sees hosts unearth ‘special’ talent
11 Leolin Zas: He was excellent under the high ball but had precious few opportunities with ball in hand. He did have a few misreads on defence and was caught out for not being wide enough. 5
10 Jurie Matthee: Kicked well off the tee and out of hand in what was another tidy outing for the fly-half. He rarely has a poor game. However, Toulon did boss possession and territory for most of his shift as he wasn’t able to get the Stormers player in the right areas of the pitch. 6
9 Cobus Reinach: One or two errors, but Reinach continued his fine form on his return to the starting line-up. He was unable to capitalise on his linebreak fully, but Toulon’s cover defence was excellent. Box kicked well too. 7
Forward pack
8 Evan Roos: Got on the scoreboard again, but will be a bit sore tomorrow after Setariki Tuicuvu’s hammering hit. Roos made his impact felt on both sides of the ball and got through a ton of work throughout. His form suggests that he will be right in the mix for a Springboks return. 8
7 Hacjivah Dayimani: His break off Willemse’s offload was perhaps the highlight of his performance but it was by no means a poor showing from the flanker. He was a willing carrier and busy on defence before making way early in the second half. 6
6 Paul de Villiers: His final act of the game was to concede a penalty, but that was one of the few blemishes on his performance. The Springboks prospect was aggressive at the breakdown and got a nice offload away. He also made his fair share of tackles in what was yet another standout shift. 7
5 Connor Evans: A solid outing, making his tackles and hitting rucks while staying on the right side of the referee’s whistle. The lineout didn’t operate smoothly throughout the game and Evans does need to shoulder some of the blame along with Smith and Venter. 5
4 Adré Smith: The lock scored a wonderful try after securing possession in the build-up and was effective throughout, particularly with his carries. 7
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
3 Neethling Fouché: The scrum was hit and miss, particularly in the first half, with neither side really dominating the set-piece. Fouché was aggressive defensively and had a few strong carries. 6
2 André-Hugo Venter: Played the full 80 minutes today with Deon Fourie coming on for De Villiers. The hooker was aggressive in contact and while there were some hiccups with Charles Ollivon competing well, the Stormers still boasted a 86% success rate. 7
1 Oli Kebble: Much like Fouché, it was a very solid performance from the loosehead prop who got through his work with little fuss. 6
Replacements: The Stormers bench looked to have fired them into the quarter-finals only for the TMO to deny them an epic victory. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was immense after replacing Matthee, kick-starting the attack that led to Roos’ try with a deft grubber through that Gelant pounced on before he tore through the Toulon defence to set-up a try for Imad Khan. The Springboks star was ably assisted by excellent cameos from the likes of Deon Fourie, who won a clutch turnover, while Marcel Theunissen was aggressive and looked to have scored the match-winner only to be cruelly denied. Wandisile Simelane also had bright moments as did JD Schickerling but ultimately they fell just short of the win. 9