Stormers must think again

The Stormers offered no excuses for a Super 15 campaign that promised much but in the end delivered nothing after their 29-10 home semifinal defeat by the magnificent Crusaders on Saturday.

On the day the New Zealand side were sublime and played 30 minutes of rugby during the first half that would have beaten any team on the planet.

But the Stormers, despite finishing top of the South African region and second overall in the standings, lost to a team that had had to travel from New Zealand's South Island for the match.

South African teams regularly cite travel fatigue as a major factor in defeats in one-off games. But the Crusaders had the same journey in the opposite direction (which is slightly easier) and wiped the floor with South Africa's best side - in a Rugby World Cup year.

Stormers coach Allister Coetzee offered the usual "it's a learning curve and we've learnt from tonight's experience" after the match, but the reality is they haven't improved on a final appearance last season.

Solid defence and a rolling maul are not enough to win a tournament, especially when the latter is stopped in its tracks.

The Crusaders pushed hard on defence and placed the Stormers under severe pressure. The Cape players didn't have the kicking game to overcome the stifling red wall that forced them deeper and deeper with each phase.

To see the Stormers moving the ball left, right, left, right for eight phases inside their own half while losing 10 metres must have been worrying for the coach.

When the movement invariably broke down the Crusaders either pulverised the Stormers' scrum or hassled their lineout to the point that these were nothing more than a platform for restarting the game on the back foot.

The loss of scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage to a thigh injury before the match was a huge setback because he is the best tactical kicker in the Stormers team. Louis Schreuder, for all his promise, doesn't have the experience or skill yet to keep his side going forward with the boot.

Flyhalf Peter Grant has never been a dominant tactical kicker and in a game where the Stormers had no joy moving the ball through phases, they needed someone to turn the Crusaders around. Grant failed, although he was carrying an injury into the match and wasn't 100% fit.

If the Stormers have really learned lessons then they will need to find some key players to take the step up from being a good, even very good team, to a championship-winning team.

They need a world-class fullback, or Gio Aplon has to play in the No15 jersey. More depth at loose forward and in the front row is essential and a big-name scrumhalf to support Duvenage is non-negotiable.

Although Grant is only 26, it might also be time to bring Sias Ebersohn to Newlands. He's not the finished article but he is a player who has wonderful innate tactical ability. Surrounded by the quality the Stormers possess in many positions, he could be the final piece of the puzzle to take them over the line and bring silverware back to Newlands.