What former Springbok coach NICK MALLETT had to say on SuperSport about the matches in Cape Town and Albany.

CAPE TOWN

'What worried me, I didn't think [Johan] Goosen controlled the game well at 10. In those conditions a flyhalf has got to kick, and kick it intelligently and accurately, which he didn't do. They tried their wide game, their handling was poor.

'The Stormers defence was outstanding, they outplayed them in every department of the game today, and quite frankly their handling was so much better than the Cheetahs. [Damian] de Allende had a spectacularly good game, he was extraordinary today. I thought the whole backline played well, the variation was excellent and I certainly didn't anticipate 33 points to nil in this game.

'I don't think the Cheetahs are a bad team, they've just beaten the Brumbies last week at home. They just got caught on a day when things went really badly for them and the Stormers were so much more determined today. There seemed a lot more intensity in their play. The Cheetahs were trying to play rugby, but with no real conviction in the ball carrying and aggression in contact, they were losing most of the contact situations, they were going backwards.

'You need your halfbacks to vary the play in those conditions, to put the ball behind that Stormers defensive line and neither [Shaun] Venter nor Goosen did that today. Question marks remain over whether Goosen can play a tactical game, when you need to actually kick the ball and keep it in front of your forwards.'

ALBANY

'It was an absolutely outstanding performance from the Sharks, given that they had already given a great performance the week before. To get back-to-back wins playing in New Zealand is really fantastic for South African rugby.

'[Frans] Steyn had a great game, he kicked well. The forward pack were absolutely brilliant on defence. A lot of Springboks in that team played well, and they thoroughly deserved to win the game.

'[Cobus] Reinach has come into some good form and is playing really well. I think Reinach is coming close now to a Bok call-up. It's nice to see a youngster like that because we were worried about scrumhalves and he seems to be playing with a lot more confidence. The two tries he's scored over the past two weekends showed his pace and his instinctive ability to turn defence into attack.'

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