DHL Stormers come short in Stellenbosch
The DHL Stormers went down 28-17 against defending Vodacom URC champions the Glasgow Warriors in Stellenbosch on Saturday.
The Scottish team scored two late tries to pull away and seal a hard-fought win in very warm conditions in the Winelands.
The opening exchanges were intense, with defence coming up trumps on both sides. The DHL Stormers were dominating territory and looked to have scored the first try when Leolin Zas chased down a kick ahead, but it was called back for a knock-on.
The breakthrough finally came when Warrick Gelant threw a miracle offload to put Damian Willemse over for the try, but Glasgow were soon back on level terms with a maul try from hooker Johnny Matthews.
That saw the teams go into the half-time break deadlocked at 7-7, but the DHL Stormers were down to 14 with Manie Libbok shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-down just before the Glasgow try.
The visitors were first to score in the second half as the ball sat up perfectly for their captain Sione Tuipulotu to score in the corner.
The DHL Stormers regrouped and were level again when captain Dan du Plessis scored the second try, with Libbok nailing the conversion from close to the touchline.
Libbok was on-point with a penalty to give the DHL Stormers the lead, but the Scottish side took the advantage back soon afterwards with a try in the corner from wing Kyle Rowe.
The defending champions extended their lead further with a try from replacement Henco Venter, which effectively sealed the win.
The scorers:
For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Willemse, Du Plessis
Cons: Libbok 2
Pen: Libbok
For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Matthews, Tuipulotu, Rowe, Venter
Cons: Hastings 3, Jordan
DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Ruhan Nel, 13 Dan du Plessis (captain), 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Brok Harris.
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Louw Nel, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Suleiman Hartzenberg.
Glasgow Warriors: 1 Jamie Bhatti, 2 Johnny Matthews, 3 Sam Talakai, 4 Gregor Brown, 5 Richie Gray, 6 Matt Fagerson, 7 Rory Darge, 8 Jack Dempsey, 9 George Horne, 10 Adam Hastings, 11 Kyle Rowe, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (C), 13 Huw Jones, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 15 Josh McKay.
Replacements: 16 Gregor Hiddleston, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Max Williamson, 21 Henco Venter, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Tom Jordan.
