Glasgow Warriors end Stormers knockout run early at Scotstoun ...

Stormers knocked out of the United Rugby Championship

The Stormers' participation in the United Rugby Championship ended with a 27-10 defeat to Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday.

A combination of Glasgow Warriors going toe to toe with the fleetfooted Stormers, when the running rugby eventually began in the second half, and another dreadful day at the office for Manie Libbok put paid to the Cape Town team's knockout ambitions. 

After an attritional first half that saw the Stormers rueing two missed penalty kicks and trailing 6-0 at half-time, it was another battle of wills in the wind in the second half.

Not much was on the go in the way of scoring and a yellow card given to Stormers skipper Salman Moerat after 50 minutes for a clearout on Nathan Macbeth left the visitors a man down.

And yet, the first points of the second half came from the men in blue, who were beginning to look restless and threatening to score.

Their try came from winger Ben Loader, who slid over in the corner having collected a marvelous Sacha Feinberg-Mgomezulu's offload.

But Libbok's conversion went begging and left the Stormers one point adrift, which the hosts quickly rectified with a try of their own, when Sione Tuipulotu danced through four tackles before offloading to Sebastian Cancelliere, who lunged for the line.

George Horne converted.

Suddenly the floodgates opened and substitute Paul de Wet was the next over the line, but again Libbok's boot deserted him. With just over ten minutes to go, the score was poised 13-10 in the Warriors' favour.

The Warriors harnessed their maul off their lineout with the Stormers' tryline beckoning, and they could only be held at bay for so long when Henco Venter took the direct route off a pick-and go to deflate South African hopes.

The unflappable Horne converted once more to extend the Warriors' lead to 10 points with five minutes remaining.

The Warriors looked to stick the knife in with seconds remaining, and a fumble and tumble by the Stormers in an attempt to clear the ball, having won the lineout on their line, saw the visitors have the last laugh with one more try from the alert Ross Thompson.

And, yes, man-of-the-match Horne converted.

Glasgow set up a grudge semi-final with Munster at Thomond Park next weekend. 

Scorers

Glasgow Warriors 27 (6)

Tries: Sebastian Cancelliere, Henco Venter

Conversion: George Horne (2)

Penalties: Horne (2)

Stormers 10 (0)

Tries: Ben Loader, Paul de Wet

The Stormers trailed Glasgow Warriors by six points in their United Rugby Championship quarter-final after an attritional first half at Scotstoun Stadium.

The visitors were up against it, including the wind, and will rue a couple of missed kicks which is proving a challenge playing into the gusts.

Manie Libbok had the chance to break the deadlock, after no points had been scored in the first quarter, but the kick went awry. Instead, George Horne drew first blood for the hosts when the Stormers were rushed into conceding a penalty on the stroke of the 20th minute.

Horne obliged again when the Stormers were blown up at scrumtime, with the partisan crowd not above making their feelings known to the referee.

At least the Stormers now play with the wind at their backs in the second half.

Scorers

Glasgow Warriors 6

Penalties: George Horne (2)

Stormers 0