DHL Stormers take full house in Parma

The DHL Stormers scored four tries on their way to a commanding 36-5 bonus point win against Zebre Parma on Saturday.

It was the first win of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship season for the visitors, as they showed good composure to take all five points on offer in Italy.

The DHL Stormers started on the front foot and did not take long to open the scoring with a penalty from Jurie Matthee.

In something of a stop-start first half, the DHL Stormers’ defence was impressive and forced the home side into a number of errors.

Matthee added another two penalties before the opening try came on the stroke of half-time as wing Leolin Zas scored off a brilliant set move.

Scrumhalf Paul de Wet raced through a hole in the defensive line thanks to a great dummy run from No.8 Keke Morabe from an attacking line-out and Zas was there to add the finishing touch, which saw the DHL Stormers take a commanding 16-0 lead into the break.

The visitors were first to strike in the second half as well as a big scrum gave Matthee another shot from the kicking tee.

The DHL Stormers continued to dominate and after a number of substitions the pressure finally told as Warrick Gelant put Suleiman Hartzenberg over for the second try.

Zas scored his second as he burst through after some great offloading from forwards and backs, with the game opening up in the final stages.

The home side got their only try through an impressive individual effort from wing Simone Gesi, but the DHL Stormers had the final say as Angelo Davids crossed out wide for the bonus point try to seal an impressive performance.

The scorers:

For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Zas 2, Hartzenberg, Davids
Cons: Matthee, Willemse
Pens: Matthee 4

For Zebre Parma:
Try: Gesi

DHL Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis (captain), 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Louw Nel, 21 Dewaldt Duvenage, 22 Warrick Gelant, 23 Angelo Davids.

Zebre Parma: Geronimo Prisciantelli, Jacopo Trulla, Luca Morisi, Fetuli Paea, Simone Gesi, Giacomo Da Re, Alessandro Fusco, Danilo Fischetti (captain), Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, Matteo Nocera, Matteo Canali, Leonard Krumov, Davide Ruggeri, Samuele Locatelli, Giacomo Ferrari
Replacements: Luca Bigi, Luca Rizzoli, Juan Pitinari, Andrea Zambonin, Giovanni Licata, Gonzalo Garcia, Scott Gregory, Giovanni Montemauri