Stormers deny Bok-laden Sharks the double

REPORT: The Stormers end their season on a high, beating the Sharks 24-20 in an intense coastal derby at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

The Stormers outscored the Sharks four tries to two in front of more than 52,000 spectators in Cape Town.

Seabelo Senatla, Deon Fourie, Manie Libbok and Jean-Luc Du Plessis were the try-scorers for the Stormers, while Yaw Penxe and  Jordan Hendrikse scored for the Sharks.

The result means that the Stormers moved to eight on the log with 21 points and the Sharks remained fifth.

It was far from perfect for the two teams and that could be credited to the injuries in both camps.

Herschel Jantjies and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu are the latest casualties for the Stormers.

Sharks also lost some key players during the 80 minutes, with Aphelele Fassi, Andre Esterhuizen and Siya Kolisi leaving the field prematurely with injuries.

Both teams also suffers setback just hours before the kick-off.

Joseph Dweba was ruled out with a hamstring niggle. He was replaced by Andre-Hugo Venter in the starting XV and JJ Kotze was cover bench.

In the Sharks camp, Springbok star Trevor Nyakane was replaced by Hanro Jacobs.

The visitors opened the scoring with a penalty from flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse after some great scrum from visitors in the hosts’ in the 22.

The Stormers hit back almost immediately. They turned down a shot at goal and opted to take a quick tap. After a couple of strong carries by Frans Malherbe and Ali Vermaak, Seabelo Senatla dived on a kick-through from Warrick Gelant to score the opening try.

Manie Libbok pushed two kicks wide and the score was 5-3 for the Stormers.

Jaden Hendrikse thought he might put the Sharks ahead, however, the TMO spotted a forward pass by his brother Jordon in the build-up and the try was cancelled.

However, the Sharks finally scored as wing Yaw Penxe finished in the corner from a set-move off a scrum.

The Stormers finished the first half strong and looked to have scored from a maul, but the TMO ruled that Andre-Hugo Venter was in touch and although Ethan Hooker was shown a yellow card for coming in from the side, it was the one who went into half-time with a 10-5 lead.

The Stormers pushed hard at the start of the second half and eventually got the reward when captain Deon Fourie went over for a maul try to draw things level.

They backed that up with another try from Libbok, who stepped through the defence to the delight of the crowd.

However the action was far from done, with 10 minutes left of the clock, the Hendrikse brothers linked up perfectly for a five-pointer by little brother Jordan Hendrikse.

Jordan Hendrikse put the Sharks in front with a penalty, 20-17.

The Stormers were forced to dig deep and they did just that as the forwards took a powerful maul within inches of the line before Du Plessis forced his way over for the winning score.

Man of the match: Marcel Theunissen deserves a mention for his workrate, while captain Deon Fourie and Seabelo Senatla  were just as impressive. However, our nod goes to Andre-Hugo Venter, who made strong carries and was solid in defence.

Yellow card: Ethan Hooker (Sharks, 40 – cynical offside)

The scorers:

For Stormers:
Tries: Senatla, Fourie, Libbok, Du Plessis
Cons: Libbok 2

For Sharks:
Tries: Penxe, Jordan Hendrikse
Con: Jordan Hendrikse
Pen: Jordan Hendrikse 2

Teams:

Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Neethling Fouché, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Jean-Luc du Plessis.

Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Siya Kolisi (captain), 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Dylan Richardson, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Bryce Calvert, 17 Ruan Dreyer, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Corne Rahl, 20 Nicholas Hatton, 21 Bradley Davids, 22 Siya Masuku, 23 Francois Venter.

Referee: Aimee Barret-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: AJ Jacobs (South Africa) and Stephan Geldenhuys (South Africa)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)