The Stormers narrowly missed being given the biggest fine in Super Rugby history when they arrived late at Loftus Versfeld a week ago for their opening round game against the Bulls.
Rapport newspaper reported that Sanzaar officials, the tournament director and the teams needed to agree that the fine not be instituted, as per the match rules that govern the Super Rugby tournament.
According to these a late kickoff carries a A$25 000 (R250 000) fine for the team that causes it, and the Stormers almost were made to pay the fine.
The team was held up in a traffic jam, causing kick off to take place 20 minutes late, with the parties accepting the Stormers excuse that it wasn’t their fault.
The team stayed at Montecasino in Johannesburg, some 50 km away from Loftus Versfeld and were held up when a truck jackknifed in traffic.
If the Stormers arrived a half hour later they would have had to forfeit the game.
The team also fell foul of tournament sponsors Vodacom because they decided in an apparent agreement with sponsors DHL to wear their regular jerseys for the derby rather than the agreed SuperHero jerseys.