DHL Stormers book quarterfinal spot
The DHL Stormers booked a place in the Heineken Champions Cup quarterfinals with a 32-28 win against Harlequins at DHL Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts turned on the style, scoring five tries in front of a crowd of 33 502, which is the biggest crowd for a DHL Stormers match at the stadium.
The match got off to an electric start, as the DHL Stormers kicked things off with a fantastic team try, which was finished by Deon Fourie.
Harlequins responded with a maul try from No.8 Alex Dombrandt to level the scores, but those would be their only points of the first half.
The DHL Stormers pack came up with two maul tries as first captain Steven Kitshoff scored before Fourie grabbed a second.
That gave the home side a 10-point lead at half-time, which was an advantage they were made to work for as they defended their tryline impressively in the final stages of the first half.
They added to that early in the second half when Damian Willemse went aerial to finish in the corner and bring the crowd to their feet.
Manie Libbok added three more points from the kicking tee, before another maul try from Willie Engelbrecht made the game safe.
Harlequins scored three late tries, but it was not enough as the DHL Stormers booked their quarterfinal place.
The scorers:
For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Fourie 2, Kitshoff, Willemse
Cons: Libbok
Pen: Libbok
For Harlequins:
Tries: Dombrandt 2, Esterhuizen, Marchant
Cons: Smith 3
DHL Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Clayton Blommetjies.