DHL Stormers held off in Edinburgh
The DHL Stormers went down 38-7 in their final Vodacom United Rugby Championship tour match against Edinburgh at Hive Stadium on Saturday.
It was a frustrating evening in Edinburgh, which saw the final tour match end in defeat ahead of the upcoming home games against Munster and Glasgow Warriors.
The opening exchanges were tense, but the home side gained the early territorial ascendency and scored two quick tries from hooker Patrick Harrison and flank Ben Muncaster.
The DHL Stormers got their hands on the ball and managed to exert some pressure of their own, with a series of scrums in the 22 eventually seeing Ruhan Nel go over for their first try.
The visitors were pushing for an equalising score at the end of the first half and almost had it when Warrick Gelant’s grubber was put into the in-goal area, but a flying Angelo Davids could not gather it clearly and they went into half-time seven points down at 14-7.
The DHL Stormers looked to have scored first in the second half when Leolin Zas finished a great counter-attack, but the TMO called it back for an earlier infringement.
The TMO would award Edinburgh the next try, when it was ruled that Darcy Graham had grounded the ball in the corner.
Edinburgh captain Grant Gilchrist was next to score, putting his side in a commanding position with a 21-point lead.
The final blow was struck with a late penalty and a second try from Muncaster to seal a dominant performance by the hosts.
The scorers:
For DHL Stormers:
Try: Nel
Con: Willemse
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Harrison, Muncaster 2, Graham, Gilchrist
Cons: Thompson 5
Pen: Thompson
DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis (captain), 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Brok Harris.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Willie Engelbrecht, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Wandisile Simelane.
Edinburgh: 15. Wes Goosen, 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Mosese Tuipulotu, 12. Matt Scott, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Ross Thompson, 9. Ali Price, 1.Pierre Schoeman, 2. Patrick Harrison, 3. Paul Hill, 4. Jamie Hodgson, 5. Grant Gilchrist CAPTAIN, 6. Jamie Ritchie, 7. Ben Muncaster, 8. Magnus Bradbury.
Replacements 16. Harri Morris, 17. Boan Venter, 18. D’arcy Rae, 19. Marshall Sykes, 20. Luke Crosbie, 21. Ben Vellacott, 22. Cammy Scott, 23. Matt Currie.
