Cape Town - The Stormers overcame a shaky first half and a late red card at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday to secure a 34-18 bonus-point win over Edinburgh in round three of the United Rugby Championship.
The visitors got the first points on the board with an easy penalty kick by flyhalf Blair Kinghorn (0-3), and while they led 10-7 at half time, that score was not at all a true reflection of the game, as Edinburgh were completely in control in the first 40 and should have led by more.
They dominated territory and possession, their set-piece looked good, and their international-laden team were also pleasing to watch on attack when they moved the ball through the hands.
The Stormers, on the other hand, didn't pitch up in the first half.
The Scottish side camped in the Stormers 22, and the Stormers were dealt a blow when Manie Libbok was yellow-carded in the 21st minute, but Edinburgh didn't capitalise on their numerical advantage.
The Stormers produced a strong defensive effort, but that was about the only praiseworthy aspect of the home side’s performance in that first half. It was all Edinburgh, and Mike Blair's side finally got something to show for their dominance when Frank Murphy went over at the 30-minute mark while the Stormers were still one man down (0-10).
The defending champions got the crowd on their feet two minutes from half time when inside centre Damian Willemse sparked an entertaining piece of attacking play with a skip pass to Dan du Plessis out wide before the No 13 got the ball to Angelo Davids to swerve his way through Edinburgh's defence. While he made it to the try line, the officials ruled “no try” as the grounding wasn’t clear, but the Scots were reduced to 14 men thanks to a yellow card.
The Stormers finally grabbed some points when Deon Fourie went straight through the middle after a driving maul in opposition 22, and Libbok added the extras to take the score to 7-10 at half time.
The Stormers looked better right from the start of the second half and completely turned things around.
Hooker Joseph Dweba – who had a solid outing on debut in the blue and white – showed his power game after a superb maul by the Stormers to crash over the whitewash. Libbok made no mistake with his conversion either to put the Stormers 14-10 up.
Their lead was stretched when Libbok connected a penalty (17-10), but the Stormers were again put under pressure when Evan Roos was shown yellow in the 51st minute, giving Edinburgh the chance to close in on the Stormers' lead (17-13).
It was a much tighter game in the second half, and Libbok continued his flawless performance off the tee to make it a seven-point game (20-13) in the 65th minute.
Suleiman Hartzenberg scored the Stormers' third try in style after leaping into the air for the intercept and getting rid of a defender. Libbok made it a full-point try to put some space between the scores (27-13).
Edinburgh made sure they stayed in the game and scored their second after replacement Stormers prop Sazi Sandi was red-carded in the 74th minute, but they missed a crucial conversion (27-18).
It mattered not, however, as Libbok brilliantly set up Hartzenberg's brace at the death to seal a 34-18 victory.
Point-scorers:
Stormers 34 — Tries: Deon Fourie, Joseph Dweba, Suleiman Hartzenberg (2) Conversions: Manie Libbok (4) Penalties: Libbok (2)
Edinburgh 18 — Tries: Frank Murphy, Dave Cherry Conversion: Blair Kinghorn Penalties: Kinghorn (2)
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