DHL Stormers too strong at DHL Stadium

The DHL Stormers claimed a crucial 20-10 victory against the Cell C Sharks at DHL Stadium on Saturday, which sent them to the top of the South African Shield.

A try in each half and two penalties from flyhalf Manie Libbok saw the home side claim the win against their coastal rivals in front of the Faithful at DHL Stadium.

The game got off to a tense start, with both teams looking for early territorial advantage. The visitors opened the scoring with a penalty from flyhalf Tito Bonilla, but those were to be their only points of the first half.

The DHL Stormers created a number of opportunities, with their backline breaking the defensive line regularly, but unable to finish as the last-pass let them down.

They eventually managed to put it together as they came from their own half to score the only try of the first half.

A turnover from Deon Fourie in the 22 was shovelled out to Warrick Gelant who found a 50-22 touch.

From the resulting maul it was spun wide to Seabelo Senatla, who put through a perfectly-weighted grubber and collected himself to score between the poles.

That gave the home side a 7-3 advantage at half-time, but that lead could have been bigger if they had made better use of their opportunities.

They showed real intent from the start of the second half and came out firing, coming close to scoring twice before settling for a penalty.

They followed that up with their second try as a 50-22 from Libbok put them in position before the forwards hammered away at the line until lock Adre Smith forced his way through.

The visitors got their first try with 17 miutes left to play as replacement Grant Williams latched onto an offload to score.

However, the DHL Stormers dominated both territory and possession in the final stages and would have the final say with a penalty from Libbok which secured the win.

The scorers:

For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Senatla, Smith
Cons: Libbok 2
Pens: Libbok 2

For Cell C Sharks:
Try: Williams
Con: Chamberlain
Pen: Bonilla

DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Damian Willemse.

CELL C SHARKS:Aphelele Fassi, Sbu Nkosi, Jeremy Ward, Lukhanyo Am (captain), Makazole Mapimpi, Tito Bonilla, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi, Jeandre Labuschagne, Siya Kolisi, Hyron Andrews, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche.
Replacements: Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Kutha Mchunu, Gerbrandt Grobler, Henco Venter, Grant Williams, Boeta Chamberlain, Werner Kok.