Stormers coach Allister Coetzee pronounced himself hugely satisfied with Saturday’s big 54-12 win over the Western Force in the opening Geo Africa Tri-Series game at Newlands.

The Stormers scored seven tries, six of them in the first half, and completely swamped the Australian franchise in the first quarter. However, the excitement needs to be tempered with the knowledge that the Force fielded what amounted to a B team for this match, with most of the first choices only being introduced in the second half.

“It is not time for us to jump up and down with excitement, and we have to make sure we keep our feet on the ground,” said Coetzee.

“I said beforehand that it was about ticking the little boxes, and that the process is the most important thing here. I just want us to be 100% when we play the Lions in the first Super 14 game in February. But our performance was fine. It was good to get it together playing under the intensity, pressure and physicality exerted by the Force.”

Most of the Stormers players would have completed the Newlands game with their confidence in a healthy state, with backs and forwards combining excellently in what, for this stage of the season, was a highly organised performance.

While the backs did well in drawing their opposite numbers before putting teammates into space, the team as a whole impressed with the manner in which they attacked the breakdown.

“We were very clinical, which was good,” said Coetzee. “We turned the ball over and we were really clinical in our execution.

“It was also good to see that we can turn defence into attack and score tries from 50 metres out. There is pace in this team over the distance, there are great decision makers to take the ball away from the turn-over area, and we can finish.”

The Stormers play their next game against the Sharks in the final Tri-Series match at Newlands on Friday night. The Force will probably field their full-strength team, which means a first run for Andre Pretorius, against the Sharks on Tuesday night.

One of the biggest positives to come out of the game for the Stormers would have been the way the team played after the introduction of the reserves in the second half. Lionel Cronje was much improved on his first outing against UCT and it appears the Stormers do have some interesting options at flyhalf.

Peter Grant played well at pivot for the first 50 minutes but then moved to inside centre, with Juan de Jongh moving to outside in place of Jaque Fourie. The former Lions Springbok joined fellow newcomer Bryan Habana in taking an early rest in the second half, something which availed young JJ Engelbrecht the opportunity of coming on and scoring a good try.

The Force were more competitive once Nathan Sharpe, David Pocock, James O’Connor , Ryan Cross and other first choice players came onto the field, but it gave the Stormers the chance to test their defensive system — something that they did with flying colours even though they conceded two tries to one after half time.

Source + Pic: supersport.co.za

Tags: allister coetzee, stormers, western force