Seven-try DHL Stormers blow Benetton away
The DHL Stormers scored seven tries on their way to a comprehensive 56-5 win against Benetton at DHL Stadium on Saturday.
The bonus-point win takes them up to sixth on the Vodacom United Rugby Championship standings with two rounds left to play ahead of the play-offs.
The DHL Stormers are on home turf for both those matches, with Dragons RFc and fifth-placed Cardiff still to visit Cape Town.
The home side burst out the blocks and put in a polished first-half display to rack up a commanding 30-0 lead at the break.
Tighthead prop Sazi Sandi was first to score, after taking an inside ball from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to go through the gap.
They followed that up with a penalty and a drop-goal from Feinberg-Mngomezulu to race out to a 13-0 lead and then showed some impressive resolve on defence to hold the visitors out.
Centre Dan du Plessis scored the second try after taking an offload from Fainberg-Mngomezulu, who had taken a quick tapin his own half after getting taken out in the air.
The third try was scored by Seabelo Senatla, who was set up by replacement Suleiman Hartzenberg who ran a superb angle before getting the offload away.
The second start started with more points as Benetton got their first try from flyhalf Jacob Umaga-Smith before rthe DHL Stormers wrapped up the bonus point with a try from Marcel Theunissen, who did well to stay on his feet and finish.
Damian Willemse was shown a yellow card for a high tackle just after the hour mark, but that did not stop the home side from scoring again as some aggressive defence resulted in an intercept from Leolin Zas who raced away to score the fifth try.
Flank Paul de Villiers went over for the sixth try on the back of a powerful maul and the final blow came from Feinberg-Mngomezulu to take them past the half-century mark.
The scorers:
For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Sandi, Du Plessis, Senatla, Theunissen, Zas, De Villiers, Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 6
Pens: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 2
DG: Feinberg-Mngomezulu
For Benetton:
Try: Umaga-Smith
DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Brok Harris, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Connor Evans, 21 Louw Nel, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Suleiman Hartzenberg.
