The new millennium has been a series of false dawns for the Stormers, but after their successive wins on New Zealand soil over the past two weekends it is time to give credit where it is due. On current form it is the Cape Town franchise, not the Bulls, that carries the torch for South African rugby.
Since Super Rugby turned professional in 1996, the Stormers have appeared in the semifinals on just two occasions. The last time was in 2004, when the team finished third in log play and could not get past the Crusaders in Christchurch despite a plucky effort. But the moment that lives in infamy came in 1999.
That year the Stormers finished second on the log and hosted the Highlanders at Newlands. Coached by Alan Solomons, it was a team with a fine blend of youth and experience, although missing its captain — Bob Skinstad, who had injured his knee a month earlier. In the 24 hours leading up to the semifinal, something happened to stymie the Stormers and they ended up losing 33-18.
It is rumoured that the senior players approached management for an increase in their bonus payouts once they reached the knockout stages. Management demurred and speculation circulated that Pick ‘n Pay boss Raymond Ackerman stepped in at the last moment to top up the players’ salaries.
But the damage had been done and the way the team played on the day suggested that the players’ minds were on other things. As it turned out, the foot-shooting was even more dramatic as the table-topping Queensland Reds had lost the first semifinal of the day, meaning that the Stormers would have hosted the final had they beaten the Highlanders.
What happened behind closed doors ahead of that game has been the elephant in the room ever since. Successive world-beating teams, in the eyes of the Cape press and blinkered supporters, have been exposed as paper tigers, but this year the Stormers finally have the opportunity to erase a decade of failure.
If that is to happen, they need to maintain the level of play shown against the Blues and Chiefs. In both those games their pack led the way in spectacular fashion. A fit-again Schalk Burger has rediscovered the joy that flooded his game as a precocious 21-year-old. Back then he was a link between forwards and backs more than he was a human battering ram and his rediscovered zest for passing the ball has made a huge difference.
But Burger is a known, if considerable, quantity. Few would have expected the quality of play displayed by hooker Tiaan Liebenberg. A journeyman who played four seasons for Griquas — the same team that his father, Henning (a flyhalf), represented — Liebenberg was summoned back from Europe to help an ailing franchise. Now he is playing the best rugby of his life.
More importantly, from a long-term perspective, Andries Bekker has turned an important corner. As is frequently the case with remarkable physical specimens, the area missing hitherto from Bekker’s game was desire. He had been accustomed since early school days to a divine right to line-out ball and his lack of “mongrel” in the tight exchanges came from the fact that no one in their right mind would take on someone so enormous.
He played, even excelled, at the highest level of the game, yet there was something palpably missing. His performance against the Blues and Chiefs suggests that he has found the missing ingredient and it could not have come at a better time for Springbok rugby, as the path to middle age begins to open up for the great Victor Matfield.
It remains the case that the Stormers do not have the same strength in their depth at forward as the Bulls. It is also true that the draw does not favour them from here on in. This week it’s the Reds in Brisbane and then, in successive weekends, the Crusaders, Sharks and Bulls. All but the Sharks have home semifinal ambitions of their own.
In their favour is the fact that two of the four games are at Newlands, a stadium that will not be hosting any Soccer World Cup matches and, unlike Loftus Versfeld, is therefore immune to any need for political expediency. There is also the important factor of form: right now the Stormers are the best team in the tournament and they could do the other contenders a huge favour by seeing off the Reds this weekend.
Equally, the other mid-table contenders will be willing on the Sharks as they host the Blues in Durban. After dominating the early years of the Super 12, the Blues have blown hot and cold, capable on their day of making any team look stupid and then falling on their own swords a week later.
Technically, the Sharks are still in with a chance of making the semifinals but, in reality, their unbeaten run has come too late. What should trouble the neutrals in this country (if there are such creatures) is that the rejuvenated finalists of 2007 still have fixtures left against both the Bulls and Stormers.