DHL Stormers take Brumbies down
The DHL Stormers returned to winning ways with a dominant 31-11 victory over the Brumbies at DHL Newlands on Saturday.
It was the home team’s third win from four matches which puts them firmly on top of the Africa Conference One, as they handed the Brumbies their first defeat of the 2016 Vodacom Super Rugby season.
The match got off to a tense start, and it was the DHL Stormers who had the early territorial ascendency as they pushed the Brumbies deep into their own half.
The home side would open the scoring with a Kurt Coleman penalty after the Brumbies strayed offside under pressure in their own 22, and he added another soon afterwards to put them 6-0 up after the opening 15 minutes.
The Brumbies struck on the half-hour mark when big Tevita Kuridrani burst through in midfield before finding Henry Speight who dived over in the corner for the try.
The touchline conversion attempt was pulled wide by Christian Leali’ifano, and the DHL Stormers were able to stretch their lead to 9-5 at half-time through a third Coleman penalty just before the break.
The visitors struck early in the second half with a penalty from Leali’ifano narrowing the gap to just one point, but the DHL Stormers responded by camping in the Brumbies 22, forcing the Canberra side to defend for all they were worth.
The pressure eventually told when Siya Kolisi burst through for a try, and the conversion from Coleman gave the DHL Stormers a crucial 16-8 advantage with just over 20 minutes to play.
The Brumbies hit back with a second Leali’ifano penalty, but they were struck a major blow when replacement hooker Josh Mann-Rea was shown a red card for striking Oli Kebble in the face with 15 minutes left.
Coleman slotted the resulting penalty and the DHL Stormers had all of the late momentum as Dillyn Leyds and Vincent Koch both crossed for tries at the death to put the seal on a convincing performance.
The scorers:
For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Kolisi, Leyds, Koch
Cons: Coleman, Du Plessis
Pens: Coleman 4
For Brumbies:
Try: Speight
Pens: Leali’ifano 2
Teams:
DHL Stormers: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Juan de Jongh (co-captain), 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe (co-captain), 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 23 Leolin Zas.
Brumbies: 15 Aidan Toua, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Joseph Tomane, 10 Christian Leali’ifano, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Jordan Smiler, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore (captain), 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 Allan Alaalatoa, 18 Leslie Leulua’iali’i-Makin, 19 Tom Staniforth, 20 Michael Wells, 21 Michael Dowsett, 22 Robbie Coleman, 23 Nigel Ah Wong.
Referee: Jaco Peyper
