Stormers send Bulls packing in north-south derby

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A flurry of three successive tries saw the DHL Stormers floor the Vodacom Bulls to earn a bonus-point victory in the first north-south derby of the season in Cape Town on Friday night.

The rivals were deadlocked at 13-13 after an intense first half, but the Stormers’ attacking artillery came to the fore in the second, much to the delight of the 30,000 in attendance at DHL Stadium, as the Capetonians made it four wins in a row against the Bulls.

Tries from hooker Joseph Dweba, centre Suleiman Hartzenberg and wing Leolin Zas steered the Stormers to a 37-27 victory against the Bulls in what was a rematch of the inaugural URC final.

The Stormers had the better of the opening exchanges and took an early 13-3 lead thanks to two penalties from Manie Libbok and a penalty try from a powerful driving maul.

However, the Bulls hit back towards the end of the first half and levelled the scores through former Stormer Nizaam Carr and the boot of flyhalf Johan Goosen, despite losing loose forwards Marco van Staden and Elrigh Louw to yellow cards.

The Stormers kicked into overdrive in the second half when Dweba muscled across the tryline. His score was immediately followed up by one of the tries of the season, when Libbok, Damian Willemse and Angelo Davids all combined to put Hartzenberg over.

The hosts weren’t finished lighting up the scoreboard as former Bulls playmaker Libbok broke through the defensive line to set up Zas for the bonus-point score.

Late tries from Van Staden and Bismarck du Plessis gave the Bulls hope of snatching a couple of losing bonus points, but it wasn’t to be for the visitors.

Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix

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Dylan Jack