Pretorius try ‘broke the dam wall’

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Rikus Pretorius’ try just before half time was singled out as the turning point in Friday’s match by both Stormers captain Steven Kitshoff and Glasgow Warriors head coach Danny Wilson. DYLAN JACK reports.

The Stormers further boosted their Vodacom United Rugby Championship playoff hopes by claiming a full house of points in a 32-7 victory over Glasgow in Cape Town on Friday night.

The home side did, however, get off to a shaky start in the first half and trailed 7-3 after Glasgow No 8 Jack Dempsey forced his way over the tryline for the visitors. At that stage, the Stormers were getting the better of the physical exchanges and dominating the scrum battle, but were struggling to hold on to the ball and made multiple errors at the lineout.

That was until, in a moment of pure brilliance from Damian Willemse and Pretorius, the inside centre burst through the line just before the break to put the Stormers in the lead for the first time. The hosts would keep that lead for the rest of the game as they scored a further 22 unanswered points.

“Those first 20 minutes were extremely tough,” Stormers skipper Kitshoff said post-game. “They came out with a lot of intensity, a lot of aggression, work rate and we just made error after error. There were a couple of skew throws at the lineout, totally in our control, that we messed up. We gave away a couple of silly breakdown penalties.

“I think that try, that bit of individual brilliance from Damian Willemse, putting Rikus away, that almost broke the dam wall. It just started flooding open and the game turned to our side. That, for momentum and a mindshift change, was just brilliance.”

Kitshoff’s thoughts were echoed by Glasgow’s head coach.

“I thought it was a huge moment,” Wilson said. “We were saying, ‘Can we get to half time in the lead?’. It was always going to be a tight game, we felt, and it was a tight first half. We were holding on a little bit. Straight off the next kick-off after the try, they nearly went the length again.

“There are those little bits that we need to be better at, not doubling up as I call it. That means making one negative and straight away making another negative. We have to be able to get out of that cycle quicker. It is still a work-on for us in these big games.”

Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images

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Dylan Jack