The DHL Stormers ran in six tries in a big 44-21 win against Cardiff in their Vodacom URC Quarter-Final at DHL Stadium on Saturday.
The dominant win saw the DHL Stormers book their place in a Semi-Final next week, with their opponent and venue to be decided by the result of the final Quarter-Final between Leinster and the Lions in Dublin.
The home side started strong and dominated the early exchanges, camping in the Cardiff 22. But it was the visitors who scored first against the run of play as an intercept in the 22 saw them run the length of the field to score.
The DHL Stormers regrouped and started to assert their dominance in the set-pieces. A number of powerful scrums earned penalties to get them in position, and it was not long before hooker Andre-Hugo Venter scored from a maul to level the scores.
Loosehead prop Ntuthuko Mchunu was next to profit from the maul, coming around the back to crash over and give his team the lead.
Captain Ruhan Nel looked to have scored the third try, but was held up in the act of grounding. The goal-line drop-out was then run back by Damian Willemse, who got a great offload away to Leolin Zas, and the winger ran over the last defender to score in the corner.
That gave the DHL Stormers a 21-7 advantage at half-time, but that lead was reduced to seven points early in the second half when Cardiff No.8 Taine Basham scored from the back of an attacking scrum.
The hosts responded with a try from flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who finished it after getting a great ball from Seabelo Senatla, after plucking it out of the air.
The flyhalf went off after rolling an ankle in the act of scoring, and the Welsh side stayed in the fight, scoring a maul try to make it 26-21 with 20 minutes left.
The DHL Stormers responded with a maul try of their own from Paul de Villiers and added a penalty from Jurie Matthee to make it 34-21.
There was enough time for a late try from hooker JJ Kotze and a penalty on the hooter from Matthee to put the seal on a dominant performance.
The scorers:
For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Venter, Mchunu, Zas, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, De Villiers, Kotze
Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3, Matthee
Pens: Matthee 2
For Cardiff:
Tries: Winnett, Basham, Botham
Cons: Lloyd 3
DHL Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (captain), 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotzé, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Ruan Ackermann, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Jurie Matthee.
