Stormers thump Hurricanes

BY DUNCAN JOHNSTONE

The highly-touted Hurricanes are entering crisis territory in the Super 14, suffering their second successive loss in South Africa - and they have the champion Bulls looming.

A week after being upset by the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein the Canes put in another sloppy performance to be thumped 37-13 by the Stormers in Cape Town.

Now they have to regroup and head to Pretoria to take on the top-of-the-table Bulls.

Major improvements will be needed for there was little on display at Newlands to suggest they can beat the Super 14 leaders.

This is a side stacked with All Blacks and identified as a title contender. But the Hurricanes' struggling safari has revealed some limitations and rapidly eroding confidence.

It's still early days but coach Colin Cooper faces a big task turning things around on the back of these two disappointing performances.

They might have to do it without the services of All Black Cory Jane who took a heavy knock to the head and was forced off just after the first quarter.

The difficulties of touring South Africa have been rammed home.

The Cheetahs were all hustle and bustle to tip the Canes over seven days ago. The Stormers were far more precise as they continued their good start to the championship with this convincing effort that produced five tries.

In contrast the much-vaunted Hurricanes attack spluttered again, guilty of crabbing across the field against the best defence in the competition. Under pressure they were reduced to chip kicks to try to get in behind the Stormers line. More often than not these were cleaned up and simply turned over precious possession.

Their handling let them down, defensive work was patchy, their lineout didn't help and they weren't able to engineer much off their one redeeming feature, a solid scrum.

Their three wins to start this campaign now seem a long time ago.

In contrast the Stormers have made good use of their early home advantages to climb to second on the table, just a point behind the Bulls. They still face the troublesome road trip that has nagged them in the past but this outfit looks to have a bit more about them this year.

With giant lock Andries Bekker in charge there's a good balance to their pack that provides plenty of ball. And there's better cohesion in their backline with imported centre Jaque Fourie a constant danger to the Canes and new fullback Johan Pietersen looking promising.

"They have a great defence and we were lucky to get 13 points," conceded Hurricanes captain Andrew Hore. "We have to regroup and put in a performance that we will be proud of at Loftus."

Johan Pietersen kicked an early penalty to settle the home side.

They then showed the danger of their attack spreading the ball with new centre Jaque Fourie putting in a sweet pass and big Fijian wing Sireli Naqelevuki eventually finishing out wide.

The Canes got on the board at the end of the first quarter when they finally managed to get some field position and Willie Ripia landed his second penalty attempt.

Naqelevuki looked like he had a second try but was pulled back for a forward pass. He'd already done some damage though with the charge through Jane that left the All Black bloodied and dazed.

The Stormers kept attacking down the right touchline. Bekker opened up some space on the blindside and Naqelevuki and Pietersen combined to put the fullback over in the corner.

The Stormers used their trademark maul to rumble 30m upfield as the halftime siren sounded. They managed to clear the ball and move it both ways to eventually free up space for big No 8 Duane Vermeulen to crash over close to the posts for a commanding 20-3 lead at the break.

The Hurricanes fluffed two scoring chances after quickly getting on attack after the restart.

The Stormers had a better attempt by big prop Brok Harris ruled out by the TMO as they started to reassert their authority.

Harris got his payback soon after when he crashed over after Ripia's clearance kick had been charged down.

The Hurricanes took 66 minutes to finally get a player across the line with David Smith dotting down out wide after he finally managed to work a decent overlap.

The Stormers hammered home their claims with Fourie showing his strength to crash over.

The Canes had the last say when replacement halfback Tyson Keats zipped through on the final whistle for a try.

But it was of little consolation to the Hurricanes and now the task looks even tougher at Loftus Versefld.

Stormers 37: Sireli Naqelevuki, Johan Pietersen, Duane Vermeulen, Brok Harris, Jaque Fourie tries; Pietersen 3 con, 2 pen.

Hurricanes 13: David Smith, Tyson Keats tries; Willie Ripia pen.

HT: 20-3

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