The DHL Stormers Bolts fought hard throughout, but went down 26-12 against the Fidelity ADT Lions U20 in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The defeat sees the DHL Stormers Bolts remain in third place, ahead of the final two rounds of the SA Rugby U20 Cup, which will see them play at home at DHL Stadium and city Park over the next two weeks.
The home side scored three unanswered tries in the first half. Despite their dominance at scrum-time, the DHL Stormers Bolts struggled to finish their opportunities.
They came close on a number of occasions, but the Johannesburg side’s defence could not be breached.
That saw the DHL Stormers Bolts go into the half-time break trailing 19-0, with plenty of hard workahead of them in the second half.
The visitors dominated proceedings after the break, with the breakthrough finally coming on the hour mark, as a cross-kick from Jayden Brits found Randall-John Davids in acres of space out wide.
All of the momentum was with the DHL Stormers Bolts and they looked to have scored again when replacement prop Zak Hickman burst over, but he lost the ball forward in the act of grounding it.
They kept pressing, but were unable to find a way through the defence and the Fidelity ADT Lions U20 scored a late try to secure the bonus point, but the DHL Stormers Bolts had the final say with Brits going over with time up.
The scorers:
For DHL Stormers Bolts:
Tries: Davids, Brits
Con: Brits
DHL Stormers Bolts: 15 Dylan Miller, 14 Randall-John Davids, 13 Luca Potgieter, 12 Kobus Blanckenberg, 11 Freek de Kock, 10 Dawid Badenhorst, 9 Jayden Brits, 8 Aden da Costa (captain), 7 Gert Kemp, 6 Wihan Kotze, 5 Dominic Sesink-Clee, 4 Tom Barnard, 3 Danie Kruger, 2 Almero Keizer, 1 Unaye Mndau.
Replacements: 16 Altus Rabe, 17 Zak Hickman, 18 Lukho Mtwana, 19 Zander van Zyl, 20 Alexander Smith, 21 Quintin Potgieter, 22 Tyrone Gombe, 23 Olunje Mehlomakulu.
