If you’d ask Stormers coach John Dobson before the start of the season if he’d take being the only unbeaten side in Super Rugby after four rounds, he would have said “yes” in a heartbeat.
Today the Stormers coach woke up to that reality after his team scraped through to beat the Jaguares 17-7 on a wet Newlands pitch on Saturday.
With the Chiefs surprisingly going down to the Brumbies earlier in the day, the Stormers are now the only team left in the competition that hasn’t tasted defeat yet.
But as Man of the Match Jamie Roberts said afterwards: “Our group is growing and we are operating at 50 to 60 percent of our potential.”
That was indeed the case against the visitors from Argentina on Saturday, with the Stormers entering the break with a slender 3-0 lead.
They should have had more than just a Damian Willemse penalty conversion to show for their efforts, but were let down by unforced errors.
The Stormers also played with 14 men for 10 minutes after prop Frans Malherbe was sent off for a dangerous tackle in the 18th minute.
The second half began with great promise, though, with scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies intercepting a Jaguares ball five minutes after the break to sprint home for a 60m try (10-0).
WARM AGTER DIE OOND: Herschel Jantjies. Picture: RYAN WILKISKY/BACKPAGEPIX
From the restart, Roberts then saved a certain try when he tackled the Sebastian Cancelliere into touch just short of the tryline.
It was a match-saving moment and Roberts knows it, saying: “We’ve worked very hard on defence and the team has a real grit and determination on defence.”
TRY SAVED: Roberts on Sebastian Cancelliere. Picture: RYAN WILKISKY/BACKPAGEPIX
Then with 28 minutes to go, centre Ruhan Nel delivered the second killer blow in as many weeks when he dotted down after the ball went wide to give the Stormers a 17-0 lead.
The Jaguares weren’t done though.
And after becoming the first team to break the Stormers defence at Newlands through big No.8 Rodrigo Bruni, who scored off the back of a scrum, they thought they were back in the match with a second try shortly afterwards.
But they were called back for one of their players playing the ball from an offside position.
LEADING FROM THE FRONT: Steven Kitshoff. Picture: RYAN WILKISKY/BACKPAGEPIX
The Stormers’ defence held out for the rest of the match as they reclaimed top spot on the overall Super Rugby log.
Stormers - Tries:
Herschel Jantjies and Ruhan Nel; Conversions: Damian Willemse (2); Penalty: Willemse.
Jaguares - Tries:
Rodrigo Bruni; Conversion: Domingo Miotti.