The DHL Stormers secured their place in the Investec Champions Cup play-offs with a 39-26 win against Leicester Tigers at DHL Stadium on Saturday.
It was an etertaining clash which saw the DHL Stormers outscore the English Premiership side by five tries to four in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
The home side started strong and struck first as Evan Roos powered his way over after a break from centre Jonny Roche had put them into the 22.
They followed that up with a maul try in the corner, with hooker Andre-Hugo Venter dotting down to make it 12-0.
The visitors hit back with two quick tries of their own, as first fullback George Pearson and then centre Will Wand crossed to put them 14-12 up.
The DHL Stormers ended the first half on the front foot and after Dylan Maart had fumbled a certain try on the line, captain Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu slotted a penalty to make it 15-14 at the break.
The Tigers scored a maul try early in the second half to take the lead back, but they didn’t have it for long as Leolin Zas crossed for the DHL Stormers’ third after a series of impressive offloads.
The game hung in the balance and the hosts were down to 14 when Feinberg-Mngomezulu was shown a yellow card, but despite that setback they were next to score as big lock JD Schickerling threw an outrageous dummy to open the defence and go through for the bonus point try.
Replacement scrumhalf Imad Khan put an exclamation on the win with a try at the death to make it a comfortable win in the end.
The scorers:
For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Roos, Venter, Zas, Schickerling, Khan
Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3, Khan
Pens: Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Khan
For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Pearson, Wand, Blamire, Manz
Cons: Searle 3
DHL Stormers: 15 Wandisile Simelane, 14 Dylan Maart, 13 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 12 Jonathan Roche, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (captain), 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotzé, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Imad Khan, 22 Luke Burger, 23 JC Mars.
