Vodacom Stormers brains trust disappointed

The Stormers lost 43-10 to the Bulls at Newlands and finished their campaign on a sad note. With that victory the Bulls have clinched the fourth semi-final spot in the Super 14.

“It was a big disappointment. I must give credit to the Bulls,” said Barry. “They played very well. We made a lot of mistakes that cost us in the first half.

“The whole year we tried hard and we were never outplayed and today was the only game where we really performed badly. It is disappointing to finish on such a note.”

The Springbok centre said he didn’t think the Bulls have a psychological hold on the Stormers and that they are not playing to their potential when they face the team from Pretoria.

“No, I don’t think so. We made far too many mistakes and it cost us. We made basic errors and they scored tries from those errors. They scored three tries in the first 25 minutes from our mistakes.”

Van der Merwe shared Barry’s disappointment. “I am very disappointed. But firstly I must give credit to the Bulls.

“You got to give credit when it’s due. They were under so much pressure to score 33 points – it is a good team who can do that. From our side we want to wish them good luck, although we made a lot of enemies tonight in Natal.”

Van der Merwe said the option taking with ball in hand in the first 25 minutes and the mistakes they’ve made as a result handed the Bulls three or four tries on a platter. “That was very disappointing.”

He said the mistakes came as a result of pressure and wrong decisions at critical times. “We were on the attack once, Marius lost the ball and Brian kicked the ball through and 60 metres further you are standing under your own posts.

“We say it all season long that is where games get won or lost and tonight we’ve made too many. I don’t think it as a result of commitment or guts, it is just our own mistakes.”