Ill-disciplined All Blacks survive Stormers scare in tour opener

All Blacks coach Dave Rennie will be a relieved man with the result of their tour opener against the Stormers, but it was a performance that will also leave him with a furrowed brow.

Three tries in the final eight minutes gave the final score gloss, even though on the balance of play New Zealand were the better team.

They scored six tries to three and always looked a threat with ball in hand when they attacked with speed and guile.

But the All Blacks were woefully ill-disciplined, conceding 16 penalties and receiving three yellow cards. It was simply not good enough at this level.

The All Blacks set piece was second-best, which is not a good omen with the Springboks looming. The Stormers have a decent pack of forwards, but collectively they’re not at the same level as the Boks.

New Zealand also failed to deal with the Stormers’ kicking game, which is a tactic they can expect to face much more in the coming weeks as they trek across South Africa (SA).

But they do have great athletes and sublime skills, which proved enough to get them over the line in a fantastic game to start the eight-match tour, played in front of 47,130 fans on a perfect Cape Town night.

Makeshift

The Stormers defence, for the most part, held firm until those final eight minutes, when they were decimated by injuries.

Having lost scrumhalf Imad Khan in the third minute, veteran Dewaldt Duvenage played for 60 minutes before he was forced off with an arm injury.

In the final 15 minutes, wing Seabelo Senatla was operating at scrumhalf and flank Hacjivah Dayimani was at wing. They also lost captain Ruhan Nel to injury early in the second half. The side was just too disjointed, on top of chasing the game in the final minutes, to eke out a famous win. But for 68 minutes they dared to dream.

The scores were locked at 14-14 with 12 minutes to play when referee Karl Dickson awarded the All Blacks a dubious scrum penalty when they were in full retreat. The Stormers scrum dominated all night and it seemed a strange time to suddenly penalise it, but the All Blacks do not look a gift horse in the mouth.

A quick tap and several phases later, veteran wing Rieko Ioane was over for his team’s third try to give the visitors a 21-14 lead heading into the final 10 minutes. It was the moment they needed to break the game open.

Tight start

New Zealand though, had their own issues with three yellow cards in the match – for centre Anton Lienert-Brown, flank Simon Parker and fullback Josh Moorby, which hampered them.

Initially it looked like the All Blacks would run away with it after a blistering start that saw the visitors make nearly 60m with the first play of the game.

Their direct attack, pace on the ball and slick passing put the Stormers’ defence under stress, but the home side managed to scramble and hold on. The signs though were ominous.

Despite that lightning attack and movement, the All Blacks’ opening try came via a more prosaic route when hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho barged over from a rolling maul.

That was courtesy of a penalty, stabbed into the corner by flyhalf Beauden Barrett after the Stormers conceded at the breakdown, and then gave away a lineout penalty in quick succession under pressure.

The home side had barely escaped their own 22 during that period, and were soon put back under duress after the restart.

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Yet the All Blacks, for all their slickness going forward, looked a little less accomplished on defence and at the set piece.

In a period of six minutes they conceded seven penalties, beginning at the scrum, followed by lineout sacking, offside, high tackles and obstruction.

It led to yellow cards for centre Leinert-Brown, for a high tackle on his opposite number Jonny Roche, while Parker was sin-binned for a technical infringement in the maul. He was the victim of cumulative pressure.

In that period the Stormers crossed the line twice, only for would-be tries for wing Seabelo Senatla and hooker André-Hugo Venter to be chalked off for a knock-on and obstruction respectively.

No matter though. The Stormers, from another penalty and five-metre lineout, scored through flank Deon Fourie from the back of a maul.

Typically the All Blacks, despite losing rhythm in the game as the penalties mounted, scored on the stroke of halftime through Parker. It gave them a little daylight.

Fourie brilliance

The Stormers’ effort was epitomised by a brilliant display from 39-year-old flank Fourie.

He’d said in the week that he wanted to remind Bok coach Rassie Erasmus of his value, and he backed up the talk with a fine display.

Fourie underlined his credentials in one play in the second half when he made three tackles in five seconds. Later he won a breakdown penalty – his second of the night – leading to a penalty kicked to touch.

From the lineout, Fourie received the pass the ball from Duvenage and put in a sublime pass to the flying Senatla, who scythed through the All Blacks’ defence to level the scores after 56 minutes.

Fourie departed with 15 minutes to go, completely spent, but to a rousing standing ovation.

There were others that played themselves into the ground too. All Blacks No 8 Peter Lakai and hooker Taukei’aho were the best of the pack, while Ioane remains a great threat.

For the Stormers, lock Connor Evans and tighthead Neethling Fouché defended like loose forwards, while 20-year-old flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed looked completely comfortable at this level.

But it was really a match in which every player gave everything. For the Stormers there was no disgrace in their performance. And for the All Blacks, it was the tough start they needed to the tour. DM

Scorers:

Stormers – Tries: Deon Fourie, Seabelo Senatla, Penalty Try. Conversions: Yaqeen Ahmed (2).

New Zealand – Tries: Samisoni Taukei’aho, Simon Parker, Rieko Ioane, Leroy Carter, Josh Moorby, Asafo Aumua. Conversions: Beauden Barrett (3), Josh Jacomb.