Cape Town — Before John Dobson took over and got Cape Town smiling by winning the inaugural United Rugby Championship last year, the Stormers played bridesmaids and semi-finalists to a handful of teams in playoff matches during Super Rugby.
IOL Sport‘s Leighton Koopman looks back at five playoff matches that ended close but yet so far for the Cape side.
Taxi to Soweto
Arguably the biggest heartbreak game in the Cape. Who can ever forget 2010 if you’re a Stormers supporter? A season that brought joyous moments ended in tears at Orlando Stadium in Soweto thanks to arch-rivals the Bulls.
A round 13 loss to the Sharks in Durban allowed the Pretoria side to pip the Stormers to top spot on the standings, and a chance to host the final at Newlands. But as a punishment for their sins, coach Allister Coetzee’s players had to venture into unknown territory in Orlando.
Two weeks before the final, the Stormers played a brilliant game to topple the Bulls 38-10 at Newlands.
Most Stormers supporters probably still wonder what exactly transpired in at Orlando Stadium for their team to lose. Maybe it was the vuvuzelas, or maybe it was playing rugby at a soccer venue that had them confused like a deer in headlights.
But the Bulls won it, leaving the Stormers to be bridesmaids in arguably their best Super Rugby season.
Cape Crusaders spoil the party
A year after the painful final loss in Soweto, the Stormers experience some more pain when the Crusaders booted them out of contention for the 2011 Super Rugby title.
It happened at Newlands, a place that is normally a fortress for the home team, especially in the 2010s where their game revolved around having the best defence in the competition.
But, whenever the Crusaders visited Cape Town, it became home to the Kiwi side. A sea of red and black Cape Crusaders, as the locals supporting the New Zealanders are called, would decorate Newlands and it’s no wonder the Stormers found it difficult to play against them at their own home ground.
Earlier that season, the Crusaders came to Newlands and beat the Stormers. In the semi-final, in front of 48 000 supporters, the same happened. And the visitors didn’t even find it difficult to see off the home team.
Shark feed after a near-perfect 2012 season
A home final was on the cards for the Stormers after ending on top of the Super Rugby log, losing only two matches during the competition. After the disappointment of 2010, it didn’t take the team quite long to get back on the horse and push for a first title.
But, this one was also not meant to be as the Sharks put a spanner in the works by beating the more fancied Stormers in the semi-finals.
Newlands hosted the semi and the Stormers had already beaten the Sharks earlier in the season at Newlands. But it was a bridge too far for the Capetonians.
Already after losing to the Bulls in the 2010 final, the dreaded chokers tag was flung the Stormers’ way.
And after failing to capitalise on a dominating season, where they only lost two round-robin matches, it was clear that the Cape side struggled to handle the big moments.
Another Newlands disaster-class
In 2015, the Stormers again dominated the South African conference and another home playoff match was on the cards after ending the season third on the log.
And supporters had hopes that the Coetzee coaching era would finally yield a trophy after coming close between 2010 to 2012.
They set up a date with the Brumbies and supporters would have been relieved after the Australians just pipped the Crusaders on the log to secure a playoff spot.
By then Stormers supporters were tired of the Crusaders coming to Cape Town and doing what they wanted to at Newlands leaving their team with playoff heartbreak.
But, it was the turn of the Brumbies to do so. They swept past Coetzee’s team in a famous romp. And after six years and plenty of stumbling over the final hurdle, Coetzee’s tenure came to an end as he left the Stormers to coach in Japan without ever winning a Super Rugby title.
The Men in Black
All the playoff losses — bar the Soweto final — have one thing in common: Newlands.
And for the “Men in Black” in 1999, things ended in the same fashion as they did in 2011, 2012 and 2015 — a loss in the semi-finals in front of their home crowd.
With Breyton Paulse and Pieter Rossouw playing on the wings, Andy Marinos and Robbie Fleck at centre, and Braam van Straaten the flyhalf, they played the kind rugby that the current Stormers team are playing.
Bobby Skinstad was the X-factor player, but his campaign ended due to a knee injury. And some would say with him went the Cape side’s chances of winning the competition.
He did leave a gaping hole, but the team still did the job of securing a home semi-final under coach Alan Solomons.
And that’s probably where the Newlands playoff curse came into effect. How they played in the 1999 tournament should’ve brought the Stormers their first silverware.
But just like all the other times in years after, they had to settle to be bridesmaids or semi-finalists.
IOL Sport
