Following a 30-19 defeat to the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship clash at DHL Stadium on Saturday, here are the player ratings for the Stormers.
15 Warrick Gelant: At the heart of most things the Stormers did, both good and bad. Linked nicely at times with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu but there were also plenty of mistakes which summed up the Stormers’ performance. 5
14 Suleiman Hartzenberg: A quiet day for the wing, who barely had the chance to run with ball in hand. Basics were decent enough but he struggled to get involved in the game. 5
13 Wandisile Simelane: Didn’t get too much change out of a solid Sharks defence, who kept the Stormers quiet for most of the game. There was the odd good carry and also showed decent hands at times, but he’s had better games this season. 5
12 Damian Willemse: Hasn’t quite shone for the Stormers as he did for the Springboks during the international campaign. Alongside Feinberg-Mngomezulu, we expected fireworks, but it hasn’t quite happened yet in the blue and white. 5
11 Leolin Zas: Looked dangerous on the wing, stretching his legs with one fine break down the left. Worked hard throughout and had plenty of other good moments, despite the odd error. 6
Main character syndrome?
10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (c): It’s just not quite working for the hugely gifted playmaker at the moment. There were some superb touches and in many ways he was their most dangerous player, but Feinberg-Mngomezulu is simply trying too much. A case of main character syndrome or is it simply overenthusiasm? It is difficult to tell but what’s for certain is that he needs to rein it in slightly. 5
9 Cobus Reinach: You expect much more from the Springboks 9, 10 and 12 (albeit Willemse has tended to be at full-back for South Africa) and, although it wasn’t a poor performance from Reinach, the Sharks managed to put plenty of pressure on him at the base. 5
8 Marcel Theunissen: Some bruising carries but it was ultimately the visitors who controlled the physical battle and his impact was limited as a result. 6
7 Ben-Jason Dixon: In a fierce lineout battle, he put pressure on the opposition ball with one particularly excellent steal, but there was not too much else to write home about. 5
6 Paul de Villiers: Has probably been the Stormers’ best player this season and he was again prominent at the breakdown, but the visitors made life more difficult for him. 6
Abysmal set-piece
5 JD Schickerling: Their lineout has been much better since bringing back the big second-row but it was taken apart by the Sharks, who deprived them of key attacking opportunities throughout. 4
4 Connor Evans: Like Schickerling, the set-piece was abysmal as they struggled to execute the fundamentals. 4
3 Neethling Fouché: Has generally been dominant in the scrum this season but found himself under pressure at times. However, that is no disgrace against Ox Nche, who came on after half-an-hour. 5
2 André-Hugo Venter: Lineout abysmal – little more needs to be said. Both the hooker and the locks need to be held accountable. 4
1 Ntuthuko Mchunu: To complete their set-piece woes, was part of a scrum that didn’t get its way against their opponents. Also struggled to make an impact in the loose. 5
Replacements: There was certainly no ‘Bomb Squad’ in Cape Town with two of their replacements, Sazi Sandi and Salmaan Moerat, getting sin-binned as the Sharks pulled away in the second period. When Sandi did return, the hosts started to get ascendency in the scrum, but by that point the game was effectively over. 3
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