Burger relishes late win
The Stormers left it late before snatching a dramatic 28-26 victory over the Blues at Eden Park.
Last Updated: 20/05/11 11:04am
The Stormers left it late before snatching a dramatic 28-26 victory over the Blues at Eden Park.
The Stormers had trailed 19-3 at the break and 26-18 with 12 minutes left - but skipper Schalk Burger crashed over in the dying seconds and Dewaldt Duvenage converted to seal the win.
Four penalties from Luke McAlister and his conversion of Alby Mathewson's try - after the scrum-half profited from Stephen Brett's break - had put the Blues in control in the opening 40 minutes.
And Burger admitted some harsh words were needed at the break to turn things around.
"After that first half, we got a stern talking to at half-time and we managed to turn it around," Burger said.
"We took a lot of lessons out of last week and even though we were down I thought we had a lot of attacking opportunities.
"The second half we made sure that we kept the ball in hand and put the Blues under pressure."
Fightback
All the Stormers had to show for their first-half efforts was a Lionel Cronje penalty - with the fly-half missing two other attempts at goal.
With Cronje off injured, Duvenage took over the kicking duties and landed a penalty and a conversion as the Stormers hit back.
The midfield duo of Juan de Jongh and Johann Sadie crossed within three minutes of each other to see the deficit cut to a point.
Blues, though, must have thought they had quelled the fightback when Lachie Munro scored and McAlister converted with 12 minutes left.
However Duvenage landed a penalty before keeping his cool to slot over the conversion when Burger powered over from a rolling maul.
"I think they played with the ball quite well, played in the right part of the field and applied that pressure," said a frustrated Blues captain Keven Mealamu.
"I'm just disappointed with those two tries where we slipped off some simple tackles and it cost us."
