14-man Stormers edge URC thriller as Lions go agonisingly close to ...

The Stormers consolidated fifth position on the United Rugby Championship (URC) table when they clinched a 29-24 bonus-point victory against the Lions in Cape Town on Saturday.

As expected, this was an entertaining encounter and the momentum between the sides ebbed and flowed throughout but the Stormers had to play almost an entire half with 14 players after Angelo Davids was red carded following a dangerous high tackle on Sanele Nohamba.

In the end, they held their nerve and outscored their visitors by four tries to two with Davids, Andre-Hugo Venter, Evan Roos and Adre Smith dotting down while Manie Libbok slotted three conversions and a penalty.

For the Lions, Francke Horn and JC Pretorius crossed the whitewash while Jordan Hendrikse slotted four penalties and a conversion.

The opening exchanges were evenly contested but the Lions took the lead courtesy of a Hendrikse penalty as early as the third minute. However, the Stormers did not panic and three minutes later Venter crossed the whitewash off the back of a lineout drive deep inside the Lions’ 22.

Hendrikse added another penalty before some errors from the Stormers inside their 22 led to the Lions winning turnover ball and the ball was shifted wide to Horn, who crossed in the right-hand corner.

Once again, the Stormers responded shortly afterwards with a slick backline move and Davids cantered in for the five-pointer but the Lions finished the half stronger.

Just after the half-hour mark, Pretorius crossed for his five-pointer which was converted by Hendrikse, who also added a penalty on the stroke of half-time which gave his side a 21-12 lead at the break.

The second half started brightly for the hosts with Libbok slotting a penalty shortly after the restart but then Davids received his marching orders in the 49th minute his illegal challenge on Nohamba.

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The Lions playmaker was knocked out cold after Davids’ hit and free-for-all ensued amongst the players with Marius Louw receiving a yellow card for his role in the melee.

That proved crucial as both sides played with 14 men for the next 10 minutes and shortly after Louw returned to the field Roos showed his class when he outsprinted the Lions’ cover defence on his way over the try-line.

Libbok added the extras which meant the hosts were holding a slender 22-21 lead and the next 20 minutes was an arm wrestle as both sides went in search of the victory.

In the 74th minute, Hendrikse put his team back in front when he succeeded with his fourth penalty after the Stormers strayed offside on defence and with time running out on the clock the Lions thought they had the game in the bag.

The Stormers would not surrender, however, and three minutes later Smith barged over from close quarters to seal the win for his team in their final home match of the season.

The Lions secured a bonus-point for losing by less than seven points which could be crucial in their bid to advance to the quarter-finals. However, they will have to wait for the round’s other matches to be completed later on Saturday to discover their fate.

Stormers: 15 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Evan Roos, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Sti Sithole
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Stefan Ungerer, 22 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 23 Ben Loader

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Jordan Hendrikse, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Sanele Nohamba, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Willem Alberts (c), 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Morgan Naude
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Etienne Oosthuizen, 20 Reinhard Nothnagel, 21 Izan Eseterhuizen, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Gianni Lombard

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)
Assistant Referees: Griffin Colby (SARU), Hanru van Rooyen (SARU)
TMO: Christi du Preez (SARU)

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