DHL Stormers take Ospreys down

The DHL Stormers claimed a convincing 29-13 bonus point win in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with the Ospreys at DHL Stadium on Saturday.

It was the fifth consecutive home win for the DHL Stormers as they scored four tries in front of the Faithful to maintain their place at the top of the South African Shield.

The visitors opened the scoring with a penalty from flyhalf Gareth Anscombe, but before they knew it, the DHL Stormers had scored two quick tries to take control.

First some hot-stepping from Manie Libbok set up scrumhalf Paul de Wet to race through and score, before big lock Adre Smith finished a flowing movement which included some brilliant handling and running from forwards and backs.

The Ospreys responded wth another Anscombe penalty, but the DHL Stormers then came up with their third try as Leolin Zas ran over the last defender to finish another slick move.

The home team finished the first half with a Libbok penalty, which gave them a 22-6 lead at the break.

The bonus point was secured when Zas scored his second, finishing off another breathtaking build-up with Damian Willemse and Seabelo Senatla prominent in creating the chance.

After his try heroics, Zas was shown a yellow card for a cynical infringement in the 22 and that was followed soon afterwards by a yellow card for Libbok too, reducing the home side to 13 men.

The Ospreys scored a late consolation try, but it was a day for the Faithful to celebrate at DHL Stadium.

The scorers:

For DHL Stormers:
Tries: De Wet, Smith, Zas 2
Cons: Libbok 3
Pen: Libbok

For Ospreys:
Try: Nagy
Con: Anscombe
Pens: Anscombe 2

DHL Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Chad Solomon, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Deon Fourie, 21 Ben-Jason Dixon, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Sergeal Petersen.

Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Michael Collins, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Rhys Webb (captain), 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Jac Morgan, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Dewi Lake, 1 Gareth Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Rhys Davies, 20 Ethan Roots, 21 Harri Deaves, 22 Reuben Morgan Williams, 23 Max Nagy.