Stormers Stunned By Connacht’s Late Surge In Cape Town
The DHL Stormers endured a grueling physical onslaught in a 33-24 defeat to Connacht on a cold, gloomy autumn afternoon at DHL Stadium on Saturday.
Before a sparse crowd, the match began with an emotional tribute as the stadium rose to honor the life and career of long-serving Stormers manager, Chippie Solomon.
Although they threatened to pull away on the scoreboard multiple times, the Stormers simply could not get Connacht out of their sights as the Irish side closed the game off emphatically with three late tries.
Following their dominance at the game’s initial scrum, one would have thought that the set piece would lead to one-way traffic for the Stormers, but Connacht displayed their prowess as well and matched the Stormers across the game.
The Stormers were dealt a blow when Deon Fourie was sent to the sin-bin as early as the fifth minute – and from the ensuing play soaked up as much pressure as they could before conceding the game’s first try courtesy of flanker Shamus Hurley-Langton.
Sam Gilbert made no mistake with the conversion from an acute angle to put Connacht in the lead, 7-0.
The Stormers were not to be held back as constant pressure in the red zone led to a wonderful assist from Scarra Ntubeni, which put leading try-scorer Evan Roos into space for his tenth try of the URC campaign.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu slotted the conversion under the poles to draw level, 7-7, with 14 minutes gone.
The game was a feisty, physical encounter with neither side giving an inch defensively. However, it was not without errors as the wet conditions made handling difficult, with neither side able to take advantage of an error-strewn half.
In the 34th minute, Ntubeni’s race had run its course as he made way for Andre-Hugo Venter to a standing ovation from the Cape Town faithful.
The half ended positively for the Stormers with Feinberg-Mngomezulu slotting a penalty – by way of a scrum penalty – to send the home side into a 10-7 lead at half-time.
HALF-TIME: STORMERS 10-7 CONNACHT
The Stormers started the second half on the front foot when a wonderful, slick move from an attacking lineout allowed Evan Roos to peel away on the blindside and offer a return pass to Andre-Hugo Venter.
From here, the Stormers converged on the Connacht try line with all their might before Ntuthuko Mchunu bundled over for the try.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu added the extras to increase the lead to ten, 17-7, after 46 minutes.
Connacht simply refused to relent and got back into the game when Paul Boyle powered his way over for the visitors’ second try in the 55th minute. Sean Naughton had no problem with the simple conversion to bring Connacht back to within three points, with the game evenly poised at 17-14.
As the game entered the final 20 minutes, the Stormers were gaining good ground in the Connacht twenty-two, and following some solid recycling through the phases, Feinberg-Mngomezulu showed the ball deftly on his inside, selling the dummy, before wriggling over for a wonderful individual effort.
He slotted his own conversion, but just as the Stormers felt they would pull away, from the resulting kick off, Connacht secured the ball as some intricate play by Harry West put John Devine in for the try to the gasps of the crowd.
Sam Gilbert missed the conversion as the Stormers edged Connacht 24-19.
By the 70th minute, the Stormers unravelled at their seams when a chip kick allowed Connacht to retrieve the ball before the on-rushing Stormers’ defence, allowing Ben Murphy to run in for the simplest of tries.
Unlike his previous effort, Gilbert slotted his conversion to give Connacht a slender 26-24 lead with ten minutes to play.
The Stormers capitulation in the second half was complete when a Stefan Ungerer pass was brilliantly intercepted by Sean Naughton to score Connacht’s fifth try and wrap up a famous and well-deserved victory for the Galway-based side – their first in Cape Town.
