{"id":9733,"date":"2012-04-07T15:58:46","date_gmt":"2012-04-07T13:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/04\/rugby-stormers-beat-highlanders-in-top-of-table-clash\/"},"modified":"2012-04-07T15:58:46","modified_gmt":"2012-04-07T13:58:46","slug":"rugby-stormers-beat-highlanders-in-top-of-table-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/rugby-stormers-beat-highlanders-in-top-of-table-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby-Stormers beat Highlanders in top of table clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

April 7<\/span> (Reuters) – Fullback Joe Pietersen scored a
\nbrilliant individual try to help the table-topping Stormers
\nmaintain the only perfect record in Super Rugby with a 21-6
\nvictory at the Otago Highlanders on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Pietersen’s try and another from winger Gio Aplon in the
\nfirst half at the new Otago Stadium in Dunedin proved enough to
\ngive the Stormers a sixth win in six matches on their first
\nforay outside South Africa this year.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Highlanders, who had lost just one match this season to
\nstand second in the standings behind the Stormers, showed plenty
\nof endeavour but were unable to breach the Stormers’ blanket
\ndefence and scored only through two Chris Noakes penalties.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“It definitely wasn’t easy,” Stormers skipper Jean de
\nVilliers said in a pitchside interview. “It was against a
\nquality side and we were probably a bit lucky with some tries in
\nthe first half but we’ll definitely take the win.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

With two of the meanest defences in the competition on
\ndisplay, points should have been at a premium and the
\nHighlanders will have been disappointed with the soft try they
\nconceded in the 13th minute.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Centre De Villiers twice hacked at a loose ball after a
\nturnover and Aplon won a footrace with the Highlanders cover
\ndefence to touch down.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

There was nothing soft about Pietersen’s effort 20 minutes
\nlater.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The 27-year-old started the move with a searing 25-metre
\nbreak from inside his 22 and finished it with a perfectly
\nexecuted chip-and-chase over the head of the last defender for a
\nconverted try that gave the Stormers a 15-3 lead.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter Grant, who alternated the kicking duties with
\nPietersen, scored the only points of the second half with two
\npenalties and the white-shirted defenders held firm against wave
\nafter wave of Highlander attacks.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 7 (Reuters) – Fullback Joe Pietersen scored a brilliant individual try to help the table-topping Stormers maintain the only perfect record in Super Rugby with a 21-6 victory at the Otago Highlanders on Saturday. Pietersen’s try and another from winger Gio Aplon in the first half at the new Otago Stadium in Dunedin proved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-9733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}