Stormers Continue Unbeaten Run With Victory Over La Rochelle In Gqeberha

The Stormers continued their unbeaten run this season when they entertained with six tries and left sunny Gqeberha with a full complement of points as they defeated La Rochelle 42-21 at a well-occupied Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. 

La Rochelle selected a severely weakened, academy-laden match 23 for their Investec Champions Cup game against the Stormers in Gqeberha. 

Due to travel demands, concern over player welfare and injuries, coach Ronan O’Gara has called on 15 academy graduates, with several senior internationals, as the club encounters a draining logistical schedule. 

The Stormers got off to a sensational start, making inroads in the La Rochelle 22 from kick-off before international sensation Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu played in a wonderful grubber for Dylan Maart to run onto and score. 

Feinberg-Mngomezulu could not add the extra two points as his conversion swerved to the left of the upright. After just three minutes, the Stormers led 5-0.

In the eighth minute, the Stormers overpowered the La Rochelle scrum, with Feinberg-Mngomezulu throwing a sharp, flat pass to his left, allowing Leolin Zas in for the second try. 

Feinberg-Mngomezulu put the conversion attempt well wide, to the right this time, missing two out of two, for an early 10-0 lead.

The Stormers were rampant and had tries disallowed in the 11th and 14th minutes through infringements in the lead-up, preventing the scoreline from getting out of hand. 

The disallowed 11th-minute try in particular was sprinkled with some Feinberg-Mngomezulu magic as he was in his element and pinged cross-field kicks around the pitch at will.

La Rochelle enjoyed five minutes of sustained possession in the Stormers’ 22, but a lack of patience and execution counted against them as they failed to put points on the scoreboard. 

This changed, though, as their resilience paid off when La Rochelle won a scrum penalty – from the resulting line-out, they mauled their way over for a deserved try in the 25th minute, scored by hooker Quentin Lespiaucq.

Diego Jurd was successful with the conversion. 

Despite the first-half dominance from the Stormers, at 10-7, La Rochelle were back in the game. 

The Stormers were awarded a penalty right under the posts in the 30th minute, which Feinberg-Mngomezulu made no mistake – his first successful attempt of the day – increasing the lead to six points, 13-7.

The Stormers fly-half closed off the first half with another penalty to take the score to 16-7.

While the Stormers started the match like a house on fire, they seemed to lose their spark, allowing a La Rochelle side that looked out of depth back in. They finished stronger, though, and had hope to take that into the second half.

HALF-TIME: STORMERS 16-7 LA ROCHELLE

Andre-Hugo Venter bundled over in the 46th minute as La Rochelle offered very little resistance to the Stormers’ maul as the hooker got over for the five-pointer. 

Feinberg-Mngomezulu missed the conversion, leaving the score at 21-7.

Just a minute later, Neethling Fouche was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle, giving the French side a one-man advantage for 10 minutes. 

Les Maritimes refused to go away as Nika Sutidze powered over for a try, which Jurd converted, taking the score to 21-14.

From their 22, Cobus Reinach tapped and took a quick penalty, fed Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who beat a couple of defenders before playing in Dylan Maart, who ran to the try line unopposed.

Feinberg Mngomezulu made no mistake of the conversion, and the Stormers pulled away again to make it 28-14.

In the final minute playing with 14 men, Reinach spotted a half gap he exploited before finding Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who then found Warrick Gelant to score try number five.

The flyhalf found his radar again from far out, as he added the extras to extend the score to 35-14. 

The Stormers’ defence has shown a lack of cohesion at times in this game, and this reared its head again when fullback Nathan Bollengier took advantage of some confusion and scored their third try. 

With the conversion put over, the Gqeberha crowd were witnessing a glut of tries as the score moved to 35-21 as the 70th-minute mark approached.

The scoring wasn’t over as Marcel Theunissen scored a 72nd-minute try with the conversion slotted for a 42-21 scoreline. 

La Rochelle showed good heart despite being labelled an academy side, but the Stormers continue their winning form as they return to Cape Town for a derby against the Lions at DHL Stadium next week.