Africa-Press – South-Africa. At Danie Craven Stadium
The South African rugby spotlight on Saturday is firmly on Durban and the Springboks’ final Rugby Championship clash against Argentina, but on the opposite end of the country, the Stormers started their United Rugby Championship title defence with a 38-15 bonus point victory over Connacht in Stellenbosch.
It was far from crisp or clinical at times – though there were still glimpses of what makes this side such a force in this competition – but the result will be all that matters to coach John Dobson at this early stage.
The scoreline suggests it was a comfortable outing for the champions, but it was anything but, and it was ultimately Bandee Aki’s second half red card that allowed the Stormers to find their attacking rhythm and finish the match strongly.
The Stormers had threatened to get away from Connacht in the first half after a jaw-dropping moment of physicality from Evan Roos helped them to a 13-3 lead, but they were stretched late in the opening stanza and were reduced to 14 men before Connacht hit back with a rolling maul try to close the gap to 13-8 at the break.
The hosts enjoyed a lively start, with new recruit Clayton Blommetjies seeing a lot of early ball, but it was No 8 Roos who brought Danie Craven Stadium alive when he took a gap at pace and then absolutely steamrolled Connacht left wing Mackenzie Hansen.
A player rated so incredibly highly in these parts and considered to have a bright international future, Roos finished off down the left flank before Manie Libbok converted to give the hosts a 7-0 lead.
Connacht were on the board shortly after that when flyhalf Conor Fitzgerald nudged over a penalty, but Libbok had the Stormers back out to 10-3 with a goal of his own from a similar position of about 35m out.
There was niggle – both sides seemed to be taking their frustrations out on each other when they made basic errors – and Libbok then missed an opportunity off the tee to stretch the Stormers’ lead even further after the home scrum had won a penalty.
On 27 minutes, however, the Stormers flyhalf landed one from near the half-way line to make it 13-3 before Connacht’s best period of the half saw them camped on the Stormers line.
The defence held out initially, but after a yellow card to Springbok lock Marvin Orie, it finally caved as the tourists launched themselves back into the contest.
Libbok landed another monster penalty after the restart, taking the hosts out to 16-8 and then his fourth of the afternoon to make it 19-8, but again Connacht found themselves in possession and in areas of the pitch that were making life uncomfortable for the Stormers.
The talking point of the game came in the 62nd minute.
Connacht thought they had scored a try that would have made for a nervy finish, but television replays showed that replacement Bundee Aki had gone crashing into a ruck and had made direct contact with Seabelo Senatla’s head.
It was incredibly dangerous, and the try was disallowed while Aki received a straight red.
That freed the Stormers up, and their second try of the day down the left flank was a thing of beauty, reminding of the enterprising attack they displayed last season on their march to the title.
There was nifty passing, pinpoint offloading and by the time Andre-Hugo Venter went over for the try, it felt like every Stormers player had touched the ball.
Another sparking attack then saw Hacjivah Dayimani over in the right corner, and when Libbok pushed his conversion wide, the Stormers were 31-8 up and safe.
Connacht did score a late try through Jack Aungier, while the Stormers scored after the hooter from a rolling maul through Marcel Theunissen to land a valuable bonus point.
Scorers:
Stormers 38 (13)
Tries: Evan Roos, Andre-Hugo Venter, Hacjivah Dayimani, Marcel Theunissen
Conversions: Manie Libbok (3)
Penalties: Libbok (4)
Connacht 15 (8)
Tries: Dylan Tierney, Jack Aungier
Conversion: Conor Fitzgerald
Penalty: Fitzgerald
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