Ruben Schoeman of the Lions tackled by Bongi Mbonambi (Ashley Vlotman/Gallo)

• The Stormers beat the Lions at Newlands on Saturday, but the leadership was not happy with the performance of the side. 
• Captain Siya Kolisi was critical of his own individual display, saying it would not be good enough for international rugby.  
• Coach John Dobson acknowledged that this level will not be enough to challenge for the Super Rugby Unlocked title.
  

A win is a win, so they say, but for the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday night, there was not much to celebrate. 

The hosts began their Super Rugby Unlocked campaign – they had a bye in round one last weekend – with a 23-17 win over the Elton Jantjies-inspired Lions who, for the majority of the contest, looked to be the better side. 

Two tries in the space of 12 minutes from centres Rikus Pretorius and Dan du Plessis ultimately got the job done for the Stormers, but speaking after the match both coach John Dobson and captain Siya Kolisi revealed how sombre the mood in the dressing room had been after the final whistle. 

The Stormers, in their final run of matches at Newlands before a move to Cape Town Stadium in 2021, desperately want to win this version of Super Rugby and then the Currie Cup that will follow. 

Neither of those goals will be achieved, however, if this is the standard they consistently deliver until January next year. 

The Stormers kicked aimlessly, had little evidence of any continuity or enterprise on attack, struggled at set piece and simply dropped too many balls. 

Kolisi perhaps summed it up best. 

“The way I played today, if I had to go play in an international game, there is no ways I would have survived,” he said. 

Dobson, too, was not impressed. 

“The changeroom felt like a loss and we were very disappointed with our performance. There is no doubt we will be better for it,” he said. 

“As Siya said in the changeroom, individually there were some really substandard performances.

“We won the territory battle really well, but how we did it worried me. In that second half we were kicking kicks down the field that weren’t contestable or distance.

“We asked a lot of ourselves to defend that and it almost became like a training drill going down the middle of the field.

“In five lineouts we failed to launch, whether we got the ball ripped or just lost the lineout.

“There was a little period in the first half when we got through some phases but, beyond that, not really. We certainly weren’t effective on attack and it’s something we have to work on.”

Dobson did suggest that perhaps having a bye in week one, when the other six competing sides in the tournament secured valuable minutes in their players, may have ended up being a disadvantage. 

“It felt like we hadn’t played for a very long time and maybe the other teams have got that benefit of the extra game last week,” he said. 

Kolisi, meanwhile, acknowledged that playing in front of an empty Newlands had been a strange experience. 

“Even the warm-up was awkward. I know we have already played here in the Marvel game, but this is different,” he said.

“It’s not the same, honestly. We normally take it (the crowd) for granted and I don’t think we’ve understood what it means to us until now. The way we started today, usually the crowd would pick us up when we make mistake after mistake.”

But, in what has now become familiar fashion, the Bok captain was not making excuses. 

“We felt like everything was going the Lions’ way. The one thing we spoke about was starting the second half with intensity and we definitely didn’t do that,” he said.

“It felt like a loss.”

The Stormers are next in action when they take on the Pumas at Mbombela Stadium on Friday, while the Lions host the Cheetahs on Saturday. 

Ruan Pienaar sustained a serious knee injury

• Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie hailed his side’s narrow Super Rugby Unlocked win over the Bulls as a great achievement given the adversity they’ve had to face over the past few weeks.
• To compound matters, skipper Ruan Pienaar cried off early in the game with a serious knee injury.
• Bulls mentor Jake White lamented his team’s poor discipline but was still proud of their comeback.

Despite the narrow two-point winning margin, Hawies Fourie, the Cheetahs’ head coach, believes his charges’ 19-17 victory over the much-fancied Bulls in their Super Rugby Unlocked meeting in Bloemfontein on Friday night was a pretty momentous achievement.

Except for the disappointment of SA Rugby’s decision on their PRO Rugby future, the franchise had to contend with several other disruptions.

Firstly, former Free State Rugby Union vice-president Cedric Carson passed away before the team was further rocked by the deaths of Tumi Morakile and Eldar Mofo, who were involved in a major vehicle accident on their way home from last weekend’s win over the Pumas.

And, to compound matters, the Cheetahs saw their skipper and former Springbok halfback Ruan Pienaar taken off in the first half with what is feared to be a season-ending knee injury.

“When you take into account all the negative things that happened to us over the past two to three weeks as well as the sad news we had to deal with too, this was an unbelievable team effort,” Fourie said afterwards.

“I’m really proud of this effort. We knew that we could win this game and we consequently backed ourselves. It was never in doubt even though it was quite close at the end. We kept our composure.”

The result is indeed a major statement of intent from the Cheetahs, not only in terms of the symbolism that it represents in terms of being snubbed for the Super Rugby franchises for PRO Rugby but also that they can more than hold their own against that full-strength opposition.

“For the past few seasons, we never got to play South African derbies against the best teams in the country. We always want to measure ourselves against the best,” said vice-captain Junior Pokomela, who’ll now be elevated to the main role following Ruan Pienaar’s injury.

“Having the Springboks present is great. We want to prove a point as players to these guys and show that we can compete. It’s a blessing to play against them.”

Meanwhile, Jake White, the Bulls’ director of rugby, lamented his team’s poor discipline, particularly in the second and third quarters, though he praised their character in finishing strongly.

“We conceded too many penalties consecutively. We let the Cheetahs get out of their half and then they basically got into ours,” he said. 

“I’m quite proud of the way we came back but the work-on is that we need to be more disciplined. We’ll also need to take our opportunities, like when (replacement flyhalf) Chris Smith had a chance to tie the game with his conversion.”