Stormers survive Ulster onslaught for vital win

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The Stormers held out against a late flurry from Ulster to claim a crucial victory in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

Despite an excellent start from the Stormers, this game turned into one which truly tested their defensive and tactical mettle.

John Dobson’s side was on the back foot for much of a second half in which they found themselves defending a three-point lead.

As it happened, a controversial call from the referee and a vital tackle from Hacjivah Dayimani saved the hosts.

It appeared as if replacement prop Callum Reid had scored the winning try with only a few minutes remaining. However, after a lengthy review both referee and TMO decided that Daymani had forced Reid to lose the ball forward, despite it appearing that he had lost it backwards and then grounded it.

From there, the Stormers were able to hold out for a 23-20 win, which narrows their gap on the top four to five points.

A bright start from the home side had them flying into a 14-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes, thanks to tries from Paul de Wet and Leolin Zas. During this period, the Stormers were uncompromising on defence and forced Ulster to concede four breakdown penalties.

However, the visitors started to claw their way back into the game and after three lineouts on the Stormers’ five-metre line, made their patience count when tighthead prop Marty Moore burst over from short range.

The rest of the first half was a shootout between the two kickers as Cooney brought Ulster to within four points of the Stormers with a couple of penalties, but Libbok added a penalty just before the break to put the hosts 20-13 ahead.

Ulster came out of the break fired up and dominated the second half. The visitors started bossing the breakdown and winning the closing, seeing far more of the ball than they had in the first half.

The Stormer did manage to extend their lead as Libbok knocked over his third penalty for the first points of the half in the 54 minute. However, from there, Ulster set up a tense finish as inside centre Stuart McCloskey broke a couple of tackles to score and bring the away side to within four points of the lead.

The Stormers won a scrum penalty after the referee decided that Reid had knocked the ball on. Ulster had one last chance to grab a winner after winning the subsequent lineout, but the Stormers held their nerve to win a penalty at a breakdown and hoof the ball out to get the win.

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Dylan Jack