It was a game of great contrasts. As brilliant as the Stormers were last week, this week they were simply awful. The Hurricanes, rock bottom and winless after two very poor opening weeks, sprung to life and played with much gusto.

It was indeed a completely different Hurricanes team, which took the much-vaunted Stormers pack on and won the battle.

Hurricanes captain Tana Umaga had lot to smile about, but none more so than the pre-match tactical changes which brought them rich rewards.

They made 11 changes to the match-day 22 from last week’s loss to the Bulls, with at least two more being made in the hours just before kick-off.

They also discarded their expansive game plan for a more structured and conservative approach. "Yes, in the first two weeks we tried to play expansive rugby and lost," Umaga said in his post match interview. "Today we changed our tune and it really worked well for us.

"It was a total team effort today and that was exactly what was needed."

An obviously disappointed Stormers captain Corné Krige said his team’s inability to retain the ball through any number of phases and some shockingly poor line-outs contributed to their downfall.

Stormers coach Gert Smal sang out of the same hymnbook, saying that first phase possession and their inability to hold onto the ball in contact cost them dearly.

The early ascendancy was certainly with the Stormers, who created numerous chances. They also had early reward in the form of two penalties by fly-half Chris Rossouw, as the desperate Hurricanes defenders tried to slow the ball down ... illegally.

The Stormers’ cause wasn’t aided when hooker Pieter Dixon went off early with a bleeding mouth and replacement hooker Tjoepie van den Heever failed to find his jumpers in the first three line-outs.

They also wasted a couple of scoring opportunities with some poor option taking and they were nowhere near as fired up as they were in the second half last week and they allowed the Hurricanes to get out of the early grip that they had on the game.

And the result was that the Hurricanes scored two tries, while the Stormers relied on the boot of fly-half Chris Rossouw to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

Even though the teams had gone into the break level at 12-all, it was clear that the momentum had swung the way of the Hurricanes. They also came out in the second half looking like a confident team.

They soon took the game away from the Stormers, with a Ricky Flutey penalty and a converted try by replacement centre Tane Tuipulotu.

Even though the Stormers came back with an 80-metre intercept try by winger Pieter Rossouw, their fate was sealed when Flutey landed another penalty and the Hurricanes then went into overdrive on defence.

The Stormers eventually moved it up a gear or two and threatened on occasion, but mistakes continued to cost them as they lost control of the ball far too often to have scored the much-needed try.

Man of the match: Tana Umaga played a typical captain’s innings, standing firm on defence and always creating problems on attack. Hooker Andrew Hore was strong on the run and Ben Herring was brilliant at the breakdown. But our man of the match is No.8 Jerry Collins, who stood like a rock on defence and won numerous ball at the breakdown, while his strong running also caused problems for the Stormers.

Moment of the match: The turning point came in the 17th minute. With the Stormers looking in command and leading 6-0, hooker Andrew Hore went over for the try that lifted the Hurricanes and gave them the belief that they could win.

Villain of the match: How a hooker of a professional outfit can miss his jumpers on seven occasions and then still collect his pay cheque at the end of they day is beyond comprehension. Our vote goes to Stormers hooker Tjoepie van den Heever for his shockingly poor display.

The scorers:

For the Stormers:Try: P RossouwCon: C RossouwPens: C Rossouw 4

For the Hurricanes:Tries: Hore, Ward, TuipulotuCons: Flutey 2Pen: Flutey 2

The teams:

Stormers: 15 Werner Greeff, 14 Breyton Paulse, 13 Marius Joubert, 12 De Wet Barry, 11 Pieter Rossouw, 10 Chris Rossouw, 9 Johannes Conradie, 8 Adri Badenhorst, 7 Pierre Uys, 6 Corné Krige (captain), 5 Selborne Boome, 4 Quinton Davids, 3 Eddie Andrews, 2 Pieter Dixon, 1 Daan Human.Replacements: 16 Tjoepie van den Heever, 17 Pat Barnard, 18 Willem Stoltz, 19 Johan van Zyl, 20 Neil de Kock, 21 Gaffie du Toit, 22 Gavin Hume.

Hurricanes: 15 Brent Ward, 14 Shannon Paku, 13 Tane Tuipulotu, 12 Tana Umaga (captain), 11 Roy Kinikinilau, 10 Riki Flutey, 9 Jason Spice, 8 Jerry Collins, 7 Ben Herring, 6 Kristian Ormsby, 5 Paul Tito, 4 Ross Kennedy, 3 Tim Fairbrother, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Joe McDonnell.Replacements: 16 Joe Ward, 17 Tony Penn, 18 Thomas Waldrom, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Conrad Smith, 22 Sireli Bobo.

Referee: Scott Young (Australia)

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