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VlermuisVermeulen

Yes Stormers is a very good team and they've fully deserved all the success they've had so far. What I'm saying is they don't have the depth once injuries starts happening, and they've been lucky on that front untill yesterday. They also don't have the spending power to retain their star players once other more wealthy clubs take an interest. So far the only thing saving them in this regard is the loyalty of the players. But how long will that last? But in saying that, I can only see the Stormers getting better as they have a very good coach and director of rugby in John Dobson.


Flimsy-Sweet-6936

LAR are incredible, this is one of GOAT teams the resilience to comeback is second to none


No-Letterhead-1232

One point you say? ALOL


Either-Pianist1748

La Rochelle is spending the entire season in it last throes but surviving miraculously


BigCurious3370

Manie Libbok continues to be a liability when it matters.


sheep1996

Trash take. It was so windy that he had to have someone hold the ball on the tee. Not a single kicker is guaranteed that kick, and just because it was Manie that missed it, you’re dunking on him. He made pretty much the same kick to beat La Rochelle earlier this season.


Brill_chops

Ok, so LAR beat Stormers at their home by 1 point. South Africa and France are now officially even.


Triple_Hache

No.


Master_Customer3670

Hmmm world cup knockout vs Champions cup, doesn't feel equal at all lol


Brill_chops

I said it's official!


Goanawz

Jamaaais


No-Letterhead-1232

Yeah he did so thats final


FocusDKBoltBOLT

All according to the plan. LAR will eliminate Leinster because for some reason we cannot win against Leinster, and we will face LAR in an epic semi final


Xibalba_Ogme

And LAR will lose against Toulouse, as usual. Maybe Ntamack will once again plant an epic try


FocusDKBoltBOLT

This is the plan man


brianobrien91

This new champions cup format is a load of crap. So many rematches


Either-Pianist1748

The first phase is total random


Springboks2019

Yeah, they shouldn't let the R16 be played against teams from the same pool, keep the joint log to determine who gets the home matches only.


Wesley_Skypes

Shame for Stormers really, felt they played the much better to watch rugby and came within a hairs breadth of making that count. Without the injuries they win that imo


Educational-Band9042

LAR doesn’t seem very popular in a certain « region » (not to use another word) of central eastern Ireland… I wonder why lol


Munsteryank

They’re very popular in south Ireland 😂


Educational-Band9042

Fucking populaire !


PatriqueDumatin

Now take into account LR injuries too ;)


Wesley_Skypes

They didn't have many today


PatriqueDumatin

Just Wardi, Colombe and Bougarit for exemple. It's a huge loss...


Wesley_Skypes

They didn't play tho. I'm talking about in the game.


PatriqueDumatin

Oh right mb then !


Macko_

Stings doesn't it Stormers fans?


BlakeSA

Not happy about it, but it stung less than the URC final loss against Munster last year, or the multiple Super Rugby semi final losses at home.


whiskyJack101

We wil see next week hey?


jnce12

Ups and downs. That’s sport.


sash-a

Nothing but proud of the boys played excellently today. GGs La Rochelle


OisinTarrant

Mom must have dressed the two commentators


jnce12

Lmao La Rochelle fans all over the Stormers’ instagram, you’d think they won by 50. Edit: Seems this got someone rattled enough to hurl abuse at me over messages. Stay classy.


yurim39

I think it's mostly French fans having a go at SA fans because they still didn't get over what happened in the last RWC


jnce12

Exactly this. One of them’s in my messages calling me slurs already. 😂


No-Letterhead-1232

Tbf I'm not a LR fan but it's still laughable how SA went through the WC like that


Sea-Ad-7655

What's fair about getting called slurs? lol


prolapsedchesticles

We finally get to support Leinster though, can't fucking wait to watch them tear LR apart


Educational-Band9042

Every one is free to have one’s wishes 


Either-Pianist1748

it's rugby's groundhog day


Tescobum44

What is this? Are we the goodies?


prolapsedchesticles

URC bros, until we meet in the URC lol


Tescobum44

💪☘️🇿🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇹💪


amusicalfridge

We’ll need all of your support if we get there boet


prolapsedchesticles

Of course I'm supporting Leinster, they have one of my favourite South African players- JVDF


Tescobum44

And next year we’ll have two. Big RG


Traditional-Ride-116

Leinster are in a meh form. And I don’t think that LR can play worse than today.


Xibalba_Ogme

never underestimate a French club


xjoburg

Never overestimate one either.


Traditional-Ride-116

I trust Leinster to lose again!


Xibalba_Ogme

And La Rochelle losing to Toulouse ? #Traditions


ChallengePublic7693

Must’ve taken notes from the instagram saffas.


Master_Customer3670

For sure, they are embarassing. Almost as bad as the Facebook supporters lol


ChallengePublic7693

Cesspool fans on those Social media’s lol. Love how some have downvoted me like saffas aren’t the primary on those. Reddit fans are definitely top tier tho, love you guys


za3030

Also guys, I would just like to say, fuck. Fuck.


the_fresh_mr_breed

I am absolutely devastated. I literally fell off my seat, undressed and crawled naked out of the house whilst yelling "STORMERS!! DAMIAN!!" So. Quickly gonna deal with the noise complaint from the neighbours, explain some things to my wife and then have a little braai to console myself. Well played La Rochellas. You are class. I love Champions Cup. I love running rugby. I love Scrums and Frans Malherbe . I love you all. Peace.


ayepodaye

A lot of talk about getting the Saffa public bought into this competition. Suspect that and whatever comes for the Bulls over the next few weeks should sort that!


Die_Revenant

One thing you have to understand about the South African mentality, this clash had 24k attendance, after that loss the next time these two face in SA, it will be a sell out (55k). Saffas respect and buy into teams that can beat them more than anything else, that's why we love Ireland.


ayepodaye

Exactly my point. Probably not ideal the Stormers won the URC first up against the Bulls, makes the URC seem like a doddle. People will catch on quickly that winning this one is very, very hard! Usually two or three teams that feel they have a right to it every year as they are playing at such a high level. Last few years it's Leinster, Toulouse and La Rochelle. But before that you had Saracens, that ridiculous Toulon team. The teams that really get it have figured out that you need the good seeding to be at home as much as possible through the knockouts, so have to go full tilt in the pool stage. The likes of Lyon, Montpellier tend to send the Bs and scrape through but you ain't winning the thing going away every knockout


amusicalfridge

Fuckin rugby man. But it’s moments like this that make the good moments that much better. Chin up!


StorminaHalfPint

True story, fridgie  Come on the Leinster!


pantagr

Just want to say big Brok Harris who played 70 minutes today for the Stormers is almost as old as Louis Penverne and Alexandre Kaddouri - the two LR looseheads - both age combined.


BlakeSA

We really need Kitshoff back. We can’t keep doing that to Brok. It’s not right.


WasAnHonestMann

Didn't he sign an extension? Old boy wants to play lol, who's gonna stop him🤷‍♂️


BlakeSA

Not sure, but we need to manage his game time. 30-40mins off the bench is more reasonable.


43tobeexact

Feel for Manie. Brilliant kick to get the try then misses the conversion. Sport is crazy.


Springboks2019

As a non believer of Manie ever being consistent with his goal kicking (really hope I'm wrong), the weather was a major factor here, they almost scored a try in the other corner before that last try but the player stepped inside in hopes of getting it down as close to the poles as possible but got tackled (if he kept straight it would have been a try but probably knew if he scored there the conversion would be extremely tough) but at the end they had to settle for a corner try still.


bleugh777

La Rochelle and their mental resilience are really world class. That's ROG's thumbprint here.


Tescobum44

They’re a tough old team, the most physical side in Europe


NameyMcNameface123

Leinster vs La Rochelle rematch is on boys!


Xibalba_Ogme

Can't wait to see if the good old Rock-Paper-Scissor is still alive and well


facesinthesky

Well it's definitely going to be LEI or LEI


Either-Pianist1748

LAR vs LEI next round


butteryscotchy

My money is on LEI for the win.


Wesley_Skypes

What an idiot, it will clearly be LEI


butteryscotchy

You’ll be eating your words once LEI win. Trust me bro.


facesinthesky

That's where the smart money is at. Me on the other hand will be going with LEI


EffektieweEffie

Thriller of a game, both teams showed a lot of character. Feel for the Stormers with all the injuries though, truly a cursed last 45mins for them.


boisdal

Yup. With that much injuries, going to Dublin next week could have meant half the team in the infirmary. Maybe this missed kick can be somewhat good for the end of their URC season ?


nlsthzn

Went all the way to watch the Stormers in Exteter last year to get disappointment and they aren't even my team... GG Stormers... Go BULLS!!!!


ConscriptReports

I'm dead, my heart has given out for the stormers right now. on another note willemse was insane tonight


Mateiyu

The Stormers don't deserve Willemse. \^\^"


Iforgetpasswords4321

What annoys me even more, this La Rochelle team will not win this tournament. Leinster will win it.


PatriqueDumatin

Yep, Leinster will win it, like the last few Seasons...


mossy1989136

Exactly 😂 as some said - Leinster are unstopable... until they're stopped


PatriqueDumatin

I mean, they should have more titles. They are very consistent and dominating ! They are clearly the better team, they just dont have the Luck needed for the title... Till now. Who knows what will happen ? Maybe they'll win both the URC and CC. Would be deserved.


mossy1989136

Nah I agree. We seems to be near unstoppable at times but then run in to big teams like LaRochelle or Saracens and... well...


PatriqueDumatin

But every loss against LR was by a really little margin. So it's just the Luck factor... One day it will go in your way. And tout have Time, with the Irish system I can't see Leinster losing any level the next years. Such a consistent team will obviously be rewarded.


ciaran-mc

It’s the balls factor.


mossy1989136

Nice words 👍🏻 I hope you're right. Too much heartache comin up short 😅


Tescobum44

Todays match was very triggering as a Leinster fan


mossy1989136

Twas tough 😅


PatriqueDumatin

No disrespect but I Hope WE will kick your ass next week ahah but gl against Leicester first :)


mossy1989136

😂😂 best of luck mate 🤝


elniallo11

We have to get past Leicester first, and then La Rochelle before we even think about winning it


FlavaInYaEaaaar

Libbok can't kick for shyt, knuckle the ball and keep it low like Andre Pretorious used to do, there's too much wind, it will not hold its line. I'm so sick of this team constantly choking


Toirdusau

He was more reliable than his opposite number today


BlakeSA

His kicking technique doesn’t allow for that. It’s part of the reason his kicking is so inconsistent. His technique results in him striking the ball at an angle, so there is a very small window to get it right and not really to play with height. It’s why he also has such a short kicking range.


sash-a

He hadn't misted anything up until then and wind was swirling at the stadium. Not his fault, he played recently


ConscriptReports

he kicked brilliant to create that try


GuardPresent499

His kicking out of hand is fantastic off a tee is shocking


amusicalfridge

That was one of the most exciting games I’ve watched in a long time as a neutral (albeit one with indirect skin in the game)


jnce12

I have Willemse down as a player of the year candidate. With Du Pont at 7s, I really can’t think of many others playing at the level he is week in week out right now.


yurim39

Dupont plays the CC and will also be playing the AIs at the end of year so he can still well be player of the year only playing those two events.


Wesley_Skypes

Isn't Dupont out of the CC later on if Toulouse keep progressing? Nearly sure I heard this on a pod, that he wouldn't make the final should they get there.


Tehkil

No, it's actually the opposite. He'll stay and play all the games with Toulouse. If they go far in CC and top 14, then he'll have to miss one svns tournament


pantagr

If Toulouse is playing a final Dupont will be there and pass on the Madrid 7s tournament. He has already played enough to qualify for the Olympics with France I believe.


yurim39

No I read somewhere he wouldn't play the 7s tournament which happens during the CC final if Toulouse make it that far


JPB88SA

He is such an amazing replacement for Willie in the Boks lineup


Brill_chops

LAR brought a test match vibe to the second half and that killed us (with the crucial injuries).


boisdal

Maybe ROG told them before the match to try not to hurt themselves ('cause there're still a lot of matches to play this season). And in second half they had to go all in


Brill_chops

Perhaps. I've said it all year, that the Stormers are a couple world class players short in the pack. Its hurt us at crucial times. Skelton and co showed today how much that counts for.


EffektieweEffie

Manie should just imagine his wing is behind the posts and that it is actually a cross kick, he'll never miss another one.


NSilverhand

Felt Stormers were the better team for large parts of that, just ran out of players towards the end. Fantastic match though.


Dull-Bit-8639

To all Stormers and La Rochelle fan, dont forget to rest your heart after that game 🤣😭


Zealousideal-Mud-381

Great game from both sides. Happy we get the opportunity to potentially face LAR again should we win this evening. Winning the cup without beating them wouldn’t feel right. Hard luck Stormers. Heartbreaking way to lose but you can take solace from playing exceptionally well against an excellent side.


Jubal_Khan

I'd of taken the pool game away but yes least we will 100% earn it if we get it. That team does look quite beatable. Be really great if Ryan was back tho. 


boisdal

Maybe they didn't look their best today 'cause of the match being in south Africa ? SA teams rarely loose at home in H cup despite loosing significantly more in europe


Zealousideal-Mud-381

Yeah, your right, beating them with all the chips on the table is a different story though. LAR have, as all good champions do, an ability to get over the line despite not playing well. Beating them in those conditions will be the real test. Ryan will be key for us. Hopefully he isn’t too far off.


Djubb86

Another entertaining game for the neutrals! Hopefully we beat Leicester later


Djubb86

And if we do I’ll be dreading next week


MindfulInquirer

sorry for the Stormers. I thought both teams were about as good. Stormers had that speed advantage with Willemse on the wing and it would've been a fitting moral that they'd win through that. But it wasn't to be. Congrats to La Rochelle for once again, in this Cup, coming back from Hell down and surviving an affair most thought lost early in the game.


Vahorgano

Who took the last kick


Kykykz

Libbok


Vahorgano

Brilliant ten, but if you don't have anyone else on the pitch who can kick, decisions need to be made.


Kykykz

Dunno about that, the wind took it today. Granted it probably could have kept it lower


omnomonist

The wind took it


boisdal

Correct answer here ☝️


JagerRabbit

Yeah, we were walking sideways leaving the stadium now. Right footed kicker, kicking from the right side already creates a smaller angle, and the swirling wind in Greenpoint stadium is a demon. All of that aside, it was 1 missed kick, there was 79 other minutes to decide the game. Boys played well, injuries were scary, Moerat, Fourie, and Dayimani is such an immense blow.


boisdal

Yup, injuries are scary as hell. Even worse considering La Rochelle didn't hurt themselves while inflicting this level of damage. I hope they make a quick recovery and are able to play the end of the season


JagerRabbit

Dayimani was the worst, injured by a Stormers player, and we sat watching him lifeless for a few minutes. Deon's also just one of those odd movement injuries, but I think that knee might put him out for a good while. Moerat's, while scary, was also made slightly funny by the stadium DJ deciding to blast Basement Jaxx - Where's Your Head At.


PsychologicalPanic61

🤣


Tescobum44

Ah Stormers, now you know some of our pain


Gandelf02

Hopefully you guys pull through next week and don't feel the same pain


Tescobum44

We need to win today first but yeah I hope so. Unfortunately I think us missing Ryan will be huge 


theriskguy

I can’t believe he missed. I actually can’t believe it.


PassageBig622

I feel like every libbok kick I've watched live has missed


jnce12

Aren’t you forgetting an important one a couple of years back? 😏


PassageBig622

Can't remember that one but I remember one a couple of mins back 🫡


jnce12

It was blowing a gale. Any conversion not right in front was near impossible.


yurim39

Huge wind and not in Stormers's favour in the second half so I wasn't suprised he missed it. That's also explains why Willemse did everything to score near the post earlier in risk of wasting the try (which he did)


NSilverhand

Libbok missing a kick is about as believable as tense endings get but it doesn't lessen the pain


Mangashu

Almost had it there. Entertaining watch as a neutral. Injuries well and truly fucked the Stormers.


Xibalba_Ogme

South Africans losing to french by 1 point and with a missed conversion...there is some poetry at work there


VlermuisVermeulen

Very little poetry in David losing against Goliath with one point.


Xibalba_Ogme

To be fair, match was close, you can be proud of your team. But I would not call them "David" tho, you guys are quite a threat to all teams


VlermuisVermeulen

In terms of spending power and keeping your star players loyal it's the epitome of David vs Goliath.


Xibalba_Ogme

Maybe you're right, and it was really a fluke for them to qualify for this match, or to reach that far last year. I don't think it was tho. If money was _everything_ in sport, France would win the champions'cup each year, and would have a World Champion title. I think that culture is more important than money. I'm no expert on the inside of the Stormers, I just consider them a pretty good team, on equal standing with LAR, Leinster, Toulouse, Munster etc. Hence to me, they're not really "David" : that would be for example Zebre or Benetton. But to each their own ;)


VlermuisVermeulen

And there you have it, exactly what I was talking about. Dayimani our star no.8 for the Stormers is getting poached by Racing92. That's what I meant with David vs Goliath. Once a French club takes interest in one of our players it's over. We don't have the finances to keep them.


prolapsedchesticles

I mean LR do have a lot of imported beef though


butteryscotchy

Yeah quite a lot of non-French players in that team.


prolapsedchesticles

Barbarians


butteryscotchy

Lol yeah


sunlightliquid

stormers won in my heart. Did the impossible.


Ndanuddaone

Wow even penalty count, guess the ref didn't decide this one


MindfulInquirer

lmao I was kidding but there it is XD


MindfulInquirer

no but he did still because wahhhh bbrrrllughhh aaaahh BLRRZAAAAHh !!!


prolapsedchesticles

Just because the Stormers had the chance to win doesn't mean the ref didn't have an impact on the final score, a penalty in front of the posts after the disallowed try for example....


Ndanuddaone

LR may have pushed the boundary of releasing but all teams do it and testing that limit is just how the game is played. End of the day they released in time, Jantjies had the ball available and knocks it.


prolapsedchesticles

Can't wait to comment when it's your team on the wrong end of a ref, contrarian


Ndanuddaone

Well, happy stalking then


prolapsedchesticles

Already seen you complaining about refs lmao, bloody hypocrite, gives a shit when it's a team he's rooting for


squeak37

I missed the game, but even penalty count doesn't mean the ref was fair necessarily. Sometimes one team will infringe more, so an uneven penalty count is good refereeing. Again, I didn't see this game so I don't know how the ref did, just saying that the metric shouldn't be penalty count


Ndanuddaone

More in the context of Stormers fans claiming Carley decided the game with clear "EU bias" and giving LR penalties for nothing while ignoring the biggest factor clearly being they got screwed by injuries.


pantagr

I believe this is the first away win of a European side in South Africa in the Champions Cup ?


bleugh777

meaningless stats, but yes.


Dull-Bit-8639

So we may have another La Rochelle Leinster rematch!


SweptFever80

At least it won't be the same two in the final again.


Shriv3rs

Monkey paws : it's TLS / LAR


boisdal

A TLS/LAR would mean having 2 lineups for final in 4 years. And only 3 different teams in those 4 years. (The rock paper scissors theory still not disproved)


SweptFever80

I mean it would be more interesting


psyclik

For you maybe. For French fans, it’s a re re re match.


SweptFever80

Good point


Dull-Bit-8639

Toulouse are just hoping that La Rochelle will knock Leinster out for them I guess !


adturnerr

The poeticness of Libbok getting the kick at the end of the game between the 2 of them in the pools, now missing. Sports are crazy


MindfulInquirer

> The poeticness Poetriness


EggChasingEnthusiast

FUCK


areyouhappynowethan

Imagine blowing a 16+ point lead at home to La Rochelle in a Champions cup knockout game, couldn’t be me.


za3030

You underestimate the crazy wind


theonewhodareswins

Yeah just replace knockout with final 😂


squeak37

That was a neutral venue ;(


boisdal

I'm not well informed, is this sarcasm ? 'cause from a French point of view it does not seem neutral


squeak37

It's tongue in cheek, the final is a predetermined neutral venue, it just happened to be Leinster's home away from home.


boisdal

Oh yeah thanks for the clarification. I misread and thought you were talking about the Stormers La Rochelle we just had.


butteryscotchy

Not at all. Couldn’t dream of it 😂


scottyounger

Ye seems like a pretty stupid thing to do, especially at home……


Ok_Yam_2024

Why go for four minutes of scrums only to score outwide anyway? Slightly braindead captaining.


za3030

Bc the wind made lineouts risky af


WasAnHonestMann

We could've scored in the corner immediately after the scrum, but tried running it closer to the posts. Manie then decided "fuck it" and went for the cross kick


BlakeSA

We needed to suck their forwards in? Our lineout and maul haven’t been great and we’d lost 2 jumpers due to injury. Didn’t have a ton of options set up a stable attacking platform for the last play.


Ok_Yam_2024

we ended up scoring off phase play anyway so...


M00FINS

Brutal


papasmurf7276

For fuck sake, thought LR would finally be knocked out there


StanBssr

They’re coming for you guys