Stormers flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked a later penalty to give the Stormers in important bonus point against Cardiff.
Image: Backpagepix
Stormers coach John Dobson said his team had been out-passioned by Cardiff on Friday night in a 22–16 win for the Welshmen that could see the Cape team surrender second position on the points table.
The Stormers were still second in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday morning, but five matches were to come later in the day.
“It was a very disappointing performance,” Dobson said. “We give Cardiff all the credit they deserve. They were desperate — and I’m sorry that their desperation meant more to them than our chance to host a series of play-offs in Cape Town.
"I thought their attack and defence were very good. They put us under pressure defensively, got yards on us with a very clever attack, and they were just really desperate.
“We had lots of areas of dominance and lots of opportunities that we wasted, very similar to last week against Ulster,” Dobson said. “We often failed to convert when we were five metres out, and the fact that we didn’t get a behaviour change is a problem for us.”
The Stormers will still host a quarter-final in Cape Town, but Dobson feels they are a long way off being title contenders. “We know what’s in this group, and we’ll regroup quickly. We’re a very bruised team who were beaten by the better team on the night, and we’ll have to do much better than this in the quarter-final.”
The visitors started the game well, and within four minutes they were twice held up over the Cardiff line before lock Adre Smith crashed over. It was the ideal start, especially because Cardiff wing Tom Bowen was yellow-carded during the build-up.
Unfortunately, the Stormers soon after lost hooker Andre-Hugo Venter to injury. In the ensuing period of Cardiff pressure, the hosts' other winger, Jacob Beetham, scored, and the conversion levelled it at 7–7 after 16 minutes.
Cardiff maintained the pressure, and Bowen, back from the bin, made up for his misdemeanour by finishing clinically in the corner to give the home side a 12–7 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Stormers were losing their way, with a scrum penalty going against them, soon followed by a skewed line-out throw. A Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalty on the half-hour narrowed the deficit to 12–10.
As tight as the game was as half-time approached, a significant issue was Cardiff’s increasing failure to deal with the Stormers’ set scrum. Not long before the break, Feinberg-Mngomezulu beautifully scythed through a gap but undid his good work with an overpowered pass that the support could not handle.
It got worse for the Stormers when Smith was yellow-carded for a high tackle. The ball was kicked to the corner, and fly-half Ioan Lloyd scored acrobatically at the corner flag. He failed to convert, but his team led 17–10 at the break.
The Stormers fought back, and a strong surge by captain Neethling Fouche into the Cardiff 22 forced a penalty for Feinberg-Mngomezulu to nudge over in the 44th minute. But the Stormers fly-half was soon after penalised for offside, and the subsequent kick to the corner allowed Beetham over for his second try.
Making matters worse for the Stormers, loose forward Ben-Jason Dixon left the field for a Head Impact Assessment, before Feinberg-Mngomezulu fluffed the restart directly into touch.
At 22–13 to Cardiff with 25 minutes to go, the Stormers were fighting for their lives. They seemed to have scored after a bullocking run by Ntuthuko Mchunu, but once again the ill-disciplined Smith cost his team when he dived off his feet into a ruck on the Cardiff try-line. The try-scoring opportunity was squandered, and Cardiff relieved the pressure from the penalty.
It meant that with 20 minutes remaining, the Stormers had to overturn a nine-point disadvantage. They seldom came close, and the game ended with more of a whimper than a bang when Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked a post-hooter penalty to narrow the final score to 22–16.
Scorers
Stormers — Tries: Adre Smith. Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Penalties: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2).
Cardiff — Tries: Jacob Beetham (2), Tom Bowen, Ioan Lloyd. Conversions: Ioan Lloyd