SURVIVAL FIGHT: Lions mauling leaves Stormers on brink of URC exit
RUNNING WILD: Henco van Wyk of the Lions scores a try against the Stormers on Saturday
STORMERS coach John Dobson admits they are op die randjie of being out of the running for a playoff spot in this year’s United Rugby Championship.
After 11 rounds, the Stormers are down in 10th place - three points behind Scarlets in eight place and with seven regular season rounds left to play, they still have a shot at making the quarter-finals.
But following their 30-23 mauling suffered at the hands of the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday, Dobson knows they’ve entered do-or-die territory.
With a trip to Loftus coming up in two weeks’ time, Dobson says: “We pretty much have to win in Pretoria to stay alive is what I feel… it’s easier said than done.”
The Stormers are sukkeling big time this season, winning only four of their 11 games.
They were simply outplayed by the Lions at the weekend - especially in the first half which saw the hosts 24-6 to the good.
With Stormers fullback Warrick Gelant yellow carded, the Lions capitalised early on, with Gianni Lombard kicking a penalty goal, which they followed up with tries by Morne van den Berg and Henco van Wyk within three minutes of one another. The Stormers’ only first-half points came via the boot of Jurie Matthee.
A brilliant chip kick by Edwill van der Merwe then saw Marius Louw touch down in the 34th minute to nudge the hosts into an 18-point lead at the break.
The Stormers came out with a bang in the second half with Gelant scoring their first try from a fantastic dummy pass and dash through the defence to take their score into double figures, but two further penalty goals by Lombard soon after, saw the hosts stretch their lead to an encouraging 30-13.
The Cape side threw everything they had at the Lions as the half progressed, but once again mistakes and turnovers conceded saw them fail to build on their score.
A yellow card to the home teams’ Richard Kriel gave the Stormers a handy numbers advantage, and they made the most of this with Evan Roos crossing the chalk in the 70th minute.
They added a late penalty goal on the stroke of fulltime to snatch a losing bonus point from the match.