The All Blacks began their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry campaign with a 38-21 victory over the Stormers, but a late burst of four tries masked an unconvincing display in Cape Town.
New Zealand secured the result at Cape Town Stadium on Friday night, yet they were outplayed for long periods by a Stormers side that looked more cohesive, more physical and more assured.
The match was not a Test fixture against the Springboks, but Dave Rennie’s team will nevertheless have plenty to address before their next game against the Sharks in Durban on Tuesday.
The All Blacks made a positive start to their seven-week South African tour and took an early lead through hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho, with Beauden Barrett adding the conversion.
However, the Stormers quickly settled after overcoming their initial nerves and began to control both the set-piece and the momentum of the match.
The Cape Town side were forced into an early change when scrumhalf Imad Khan suffered an unusual injury and had to be replaced by Dewaldt Duvenhage. Khan pulled up without being touched, bringing his involvement to an abrupt end.
New Zealand’s early advantage disappeared as the Stormers began to dominate at scrum time and won the first penalty at that set-piece. Two further penalties followed, while All Blacks centre Anton Lienert-Brown was shown a yellow card.
The Stormers used the numerical advantage intelligently. Veteran forward Deon Fourie made a powerful break to take the home side inside the 22, and Andre-Hugo Venter then crossed from the back of a driving maul.
That try was ruled out for obstruction by Evan Roos, but the decision did not prevent the Stormers from scoring soon afterwards. Fourie powered over the line and Yaqeen Ahmed converted to bring the scores level.
Fourie, 40, was one of the outstanding players on the field and led the Stormers’ forward effort with authority. Ahmed also stood his ground against Beauden Barrett, while Venter recovered from an early missed tackle to produce an influential performance.
The Stormers’ outside backs Warrick Gelant and Seabelo Senatla were equally effective against New Zealand’s dangerous back three. Outside a handful of individual mistakes, the hosts were the stronger team for most of the opening half.
Even so, the All Blacks found a way to regain the lead shortly before the interval, leaving the Stormers to reflect on a first half in which they had created much of the pressure.
New Zealand’s problems became more pronounced after the restart. The Stormers controlled possession and territory and repeatedly forced the All Blacks defence to make crucial tackles.
Eventually, the pressure told. Senatla produced a superb solo effort, slicing through the New Zealand defence to score and level the contest once again.
The Stormers continued to attack, but two handling errors allowed the All Blacks to escape. New Zealand then produced a decisive late surge, scoring four tries in the final 10 minutes or so to move beyond the reach of the home side.
Simon Parker, Rieko Ioane, Leroy Carter, Josh Moorby and Asafo Aumua joined Taukei’aho on the All Blacks’ try list, with Barrett kicking three conversions and Josh Jacomb adding one.
Fourie and Senatla scored the Stormers’ tries, while Ahmed converted twice.
The victory gives the All Blacks the result they wanted, but their performance highlighted the amount of work required before Tuesday’s meeting with the Sharks. Their escape owed as much to the Stormers running out of energy and making mistakes as it did to sustained control from the visitors.
