Moerat ‘very proud’ after Stormers’ win against Bulls in derby ‘classic’

Stormers captain Salmaan Moerat was a thrilled man to see his team break a four game losing streak in the United Rugby Championship (URC) when they upset the Bulls 19-16 in the North-South derby at Loftus on Saturday night.

It was a weather marred match, that started an hour and 15 minutes after the scheduled kick-off, due to lightning and torrential rain, and it continued to rain throughout the game, making for a very scrappy spectacle.

Despite that the Stormers fought tooth and nail, with flyhalf Jurie Mathee slotting his kicks at goal whenever given the opportunity, and emerged with a famous win, to gain revenge after the Bulls edged them 33-32 in a thriller in Cape Town in early February.

Hard to describe

“It’s hard to describe. That was a classic North-South Derby, it could’ve gone either way. Credit to the Bulls, they put us under a lot of pressure for long parts of that game, but geez, I’m very proud of my boys,” said a beaming Moerat after the match.

“It was a tussle, and we knew that it was going to be that way. Ultimately, really proud of the guts shown.”

Asked what was a major difference from the loss in Cape Town Moerat said: “The set-piece. The previous fixture, we weren’t really happy with our scrums in particular, and our lineouts. We didn’t get as much reward (this time), but we got the job done.

“I still feel there is a lot of room for improvement around our scrum and our lineout. But we’ll celebrate this one.”

The win was also important for the Stormers to stay in the playoff hunt, and it moved them onto 28 points, level with Benetton one place below them, as well as Ospreys, Scarlets and the Lions, all above them, and one point off Connacht in eighth place.

“For any franchise, that’s ultimately the goal, you want to make the playoffs. Preferably a home playoff,” admitted Moerat.

“It’s going to be a bit of a fight for that, but we’ll keep on fighting. We are looking forward to a nice tour. It’s been a tough couple of weeks. We had the Lions and a double game against the Bulls, so a change of scenery will be really good.”

Evan Roos

Eighthman Evan Roos put in a bustling performance in the wet and was deservedly named man of the match, and praised the fast start to the game that helped his side clinch the win in the end.

“I’m a bit tired. It was a long day, with the rain and all that. So I am just really blessed to be able to be part a of that this. We owed these guys one after Cape Town,” said Roos.

“I’m super proud of this coaching staff and the team, and all the back-room staff and everyone at home who made this week special and possible. I think we started well, we started quite shockingly in Cape Town.

“So our whole focus this week was just to start fast, and just be in their faces for the full 80 minutes. We lacked that a few times, but I felt that we did that very well throughout the whole game.”