After watching his ill-disciplined All Blacks survive three yellow cards and 16 penalties to beat the Stormers 38-21 in Cape Town, coach Dave Rennie knows the next opponent, the Sharks, will scent blood in the water.
Stormers posed questions of the All Blacks and only their late burst of tries spared them the “potential embarrassment” of a shock opening defeat.
“The final score slightly flattered a New Zealand team that was made to sweat by a passionate Stormers team that was playing out of season, hence the almost inevitable fade right at the end, and also without 10 Springboks,”
“It wasn’t the famous victory to match that of the historic 12-11 win scored against the All Blacks at Newlands in 1976 that was hoped for from the hosts, but the Stormers were more than competitive and in the first 68 minutes, they exposed some serious flaws in the basics of the All Black game.
“How good are the All Black attackers when faced with a defence that boasts line speed and is not passive? How do they deal with the contestable kicking game? How good is their scrumming? Has it improved? And how well do they defend an opposition maul?
None of those questions were answered with complete assurance on a night where the All Blacks were held to 14-all up until there were 12 minutes to go.”
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