The Stormers fought back after gifting Edinburgh an early 14-point lead to stalemate their hosts in Scotland’s capital on Saturday.

Edinburgh scored two tries inside the opening 10 minutes to streak to a 14-0 lead, but the Stormers rolled up their sleeves and dug themselves out of the hole to draw level at 20-20 at the break.

The second half was action-packed despite neither side gaining access to the scoreboard as solid defence was a theme of the scoreless final 40 minutes.

For the Stormers, this was a much-improved showing after opening the inaugural Vodacom United Rugby Championship with successive losses.

Mike Blair’s side got off to the perfect start with a superbly worked try in the third minute when Darcy Graham touched down left of the posts after being set up by Jaco van der Walt, who then did the honours with the conversion.

Van der Walt was in the thick of it again in the sixth minute as he laid it on a plate for Ben Vellacott to race between the posts. Van der Walt made no mistake in converting once more as Edinburgh opened up a quick-fire 14-0 lead.

The Stormers could easily have wilted amid the hosts’ whirlwind start, but they got themselves right back in the game in the eighth minute when Warrick Gelant forced his way over the line after collecting an offload from Scarra Ntubeni.

Tim Swiel added the conversion.

The visiting No 10 then pinged a penalty between the posts to reduce the deficit to 14-10 in the 14th minute. 

Van der Walt restored Edinburgh’s seven-point lead with a penalty in the 27th minute.

But the spirited Stormers levelled the match six minutes later when Paul de Wet crossed the line after being set up by good work from Evan Roos before Swiel converted.

Van der Walt and Swiel then exchanged penalties in the closing five minutes of a thrilling first half as the two sides went in all square at the break.

After the interval, the two teams were unable to maintain the breathtaking pace of the first half and ultimately cancelled each other out.