Cape Town – The Stormers ripped the heart out of the Bulls’ challenge with three stunning tries in five exhilarating second-half minutes to secure a 37-27 bonus-point triumph at a buzzing Cape Town Stadium on Friday night.
The victory ensured that John Dobson’s team stretched their unbeaten run over Jake White’s side to four in the United Rugby Championship, following last season’s three wins.
With the match finely balanced at 13-13 early in the second half, the Stormers produced a thrilling passage of play by registering three touchdowns to take the game away from the Bulls.
DWEBA!#STOvBUL | @Vodacom #URC | #UnitedWeRise pic.twitter.com/79sTVDnzbU
First it was hooker Joseph Dweba – who had a difficult night with his lineout throw-ins – who put the Capetonians into the lead in the 49th minute with a powerful charge to dot down near the posts.
A minute later, the hosts produced the try of the night by running it out from their own 22, with superb hands from No 8 Hacjivah Dayimani and lock Ben-Jason Dixon, then and flyhalf Manie Libbok pulled off a terrific offload in the tackle to Damian Willemse.
The Stormers fullback found wing Angelo Davids, who put centre Suleiman Hartzenberg away for a five-pointer that brought the over 30 000 spectators to their feet.
As if that wasn’t good enough, wing Leolin Zas showed that he can also turn on the magic. Libbok – who varied his play excellently throughout the game – made a wonderful line-break up the middle before throwing a long pass out to the Stormers No 11 on the left.
Zas then stepped past a number of Bulls defenders and reached out to score a superb five-pointer.
Watch it on repeat 🔁#STOvBUL | @Vodacom #URC | #UnitedWeRise pic.twitter.com/r2n7RLKFft
— vodacomrugby (@VodacomRugga) December 23, 2022
At the 34-13, the Stormers were all but sure of their victory, but the Bulls never gave up. Flank Marco van Staden pulled one back after a strong run off a lineout by centre Harold Vorster, and with a few minutes to go, veteran hooker Bismarck du Plessis dotted down as the visitors tried to snatch a losing bonus point.
But White will rue the two first-half yellow cards – to Van Staden for making head contact in a tackle on Dan du Plessis – and then No 8 Elrigh Louw for collapsing a rampaging Stormers maul that saw referee AJ Jacobs award a penalty try.
Star fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse was busy all night fielding up-and-unders, trying to take on the Stormers with ball-in-hand and making vital tackles, and he could have done with more support from the rest of the Bulls backline on attack and defence.
Bulls flyhalf Johan Goosen blew hot and cold, mixing some sublime touches with lining up too deep on attack at times, which meant that the Stormers could shoot up and close down their opponents.
The Bulls’ lone first-half try was scored by loose forward Nizaam Carr, who gathered a perfect cross-kick from Goosen following a wonderful line-break by Vorster.
Bismarck dots down, but it's too little too late.
— vodacomrugby (@VodacomRugga) December 23, 2022
The DHL @THESTORMERS get a bonus point victory against the @Vodacom @BlueBullsRugby in an epic encounter in Cape Town 🔥#STOvBUL | @Vodacom #URC | #UnitedWeRise pic.twitter.com/aV9ID4xSUq
But in the end, the energy and vitality of the Stormers’ defence, as well as the physicality from the forwards around the fringes – where Deon Fourie was a menace at the breakdown and Dixon, Steven Kitshoff, Dweba and Willie Engelbrecht did the dirty work – halted any momentum the Bulls tried to generate with ball-in-hand.
White also took the risk of resting his first-choice players for the last two weeks’ Champions Cup games, and the lack of action counted against them as they seemed to lack that extra edge that match fitness would bring.
Points-Scorers
Stormers 37 – Tries: Penalty Try, Joseph Dweba, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Leolin Zas. Conversions: Manie Libbok (3). Penalties: Libbok (3).
Bulls 27 – Tries: Nizaam Carr, Marco van Staden, Bismarck du Plessis. Conversions: Johan Goosen (2), Chris Smith (1). Penalties: Goosen (2).
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