The Stormers made easy meat of the Sharks as they notched up a 26-12 victory in their opening Super 12 match at Newlands on Friday night. Gert Smal’s men led 13-5 at half-time.
Neil de Kock’s side should have led by considerably more than an eight-point margin at the interval, but were left to reflect on a number of missed opportunities through unforced errors and over-elaboration.
Flyhalf Gaffie du Toit had the perfect opportunity to put them three points up after just two minutes, but missed a straightforward penalty attempt.
Butch James, whose first step back after injury was mostly tentative, replied in kind in the 10th minute.
Du Toit then atoned for his miss as he slotted two consecutive penalties, the second from almost 50m.
The Sharks got the first try of the game courtesy of James. Stormers centre Marius Joubert will hang his head in shame when he watches the replay as it was his missed tackle on opposite number Trevor Halstead that freed the Sharks line.
A slender one-point lead after 25 minutes did not do justice to the Stormers’ dominance. But they managed to increase it four minutes before half-time when Joubert intercepted James’s wayward pass and off-loaded to Paulse, who ran in for the try.
Du Toit’s conversion made it 13-5 to give the Stormers the edge that their superiority in the first phases and discipline deserved.
The second half did not bring more in the form of entertainment as the Stormers set about pressing home their advantage.
Du Toit added another penalty in the 48th minute before left wing Jean de Villiers scored the team’s second soft try as he ran on to a Du Toit kick that Odwa Ndungane and Brent Russell failed to field.
Paulse scored his second try after gathering a kick by De Villiers. At 26-5 after the hour mark, the match was effectively over and it just about petered out from there.
The Sharks tried to get back into it, but lacked the strategic nous and it was only fullback Brent Russell that occasionally threatened.
Lock Nico Breedt got on the scoresheet in the 69th minute, but the try owed much to an aimless kick upfield.
The Stormers did not create much despite the vast talent at their disposal and failed to press home the advantage for a fourth try and bonus point.
From that perspective, they can definitely see it as a point lost. The plain truth is that they will play better than this and still lose in the Super 12, while the Sharks on this form are in for a disastrous campaign. — Sapa