DHL Stormers finish regular season on a high

The DHL Stormers scored four tries at DHL Stadium to end the Vodacom United Rugby Championship regular season with a 29-24 bonus point win against the Emirates Lions.

Despite being reduced to 14 men for much of the second half, the DHL Stormers showed incredible character to hold off the desperate Emirates Lions, who were fighting for a place in the play-offs.

The win secures fifth place on the standings for the DHL Stormers, to set up a quarterfinal against Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium which kicks off at 20h35 (SAST) on Saturday 8 June.

The visitors opened the scoring with an early penalty, but the DHL Stormers responded with the first try as Andre-Hugo Venter crashed over at the back of a powerful maul.

Centre Jordan Hendrikse added another three for the Emirates Lions and they followed that up with a try in the corner from No.8 Francke Horne to take the lead.

The DHL Stormers were back in front when Angelo Davids finished off a slick backline move to score the second try, but the visitors would take a 21-12 advantage into the half-time break as a maul try from flank JC Pretorius and another Hendrikse penalty saw them finish the first half strong.

The home side struck first in the second half with a penalty from Manie Libbok, but they were reduced to 14 soon afterwards when Davids was shown a red card for a high tackle.

Despite that setback, the DHL Stormers struck through Evan Roos, who burst through on the 22 and sprinted in for the try to give the hosts a one-point lead.

The Emirates Lions pushed hard and eventually came away with another Hendrikse penalty to get their noses in front, but the DHL Stormers had the final say as a late maul try from Adre Smith secured the win and fifth place on the standings.

The scorers:

For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Venter, Davids, Roos, Smith
Cons: Libbok 3
Pen: Libbok

For Emirates Lions:
Tries: Horne, Pretorius
Con: Hendrikse
Pens: Hendrikse 4

DHL 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 (captain), 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.