Stormers stutter to victory over 13-man London Irish

CHAMPIONS CUP REPORT: The Stormers are on the cusp of qualifying for the Round of 16 of the Champions Cup after a 28-14 win over London Irish in a Round Three encounter in Brentford.

The Capetonians got the bonus point for scoring four tries in a match which saw London Irish have two players sent off.

Ben Loader received a red card in the 18th minute for a high tackle on Manie Libbok and Ciaran Parker got his marching orders in the 43rd minute for a dangerous cleanout on Deon Fourie.

Despite playing most of the second half with a two-man advantage, the Stormers seemed to struggle with their tactics and they were actually outscored by two tries to one in that half.

The Stormers were ahead on 13 minutes as a cleverly worked maul was dragged down on the line, resulting in a penalty try and a yellow card for Juan Martin Gonzalez.

The hosts looked to have conceded a second try four minutes later, but the TMO revealed that Libbok’s pass to wing Davids went forward.

However, the officials also spotted a high tackle on Libbok by Loader, who was sent off amid no mitigation and a high degree of danger.

Irish continued to plug away despite their reduced numbers, but it proved to be a fruitless first half – flyhalf Rory Jennings dragged a penalty wide from in front of the posts on 25 minutes.

The Stormers would then grab their second try as centre Nel flew out the defensive line to intercept and cruise under the posts from just inside the Irish half.

A third try came three minutes before the break as Sacha Mngomezulu, on for Libbok after he was injured in the clash with Loader, stabbed a smart kick in behind the Irish defence, with wing Hartzenberg gathering and stepping inside to finish.

Irish’s afternoon became even more difficult two minutes after the restart as replacement prop Parker, who had come off the bench at half-time, was dismissed for an illegal clear-out.

Davids then secured the bonus point for Stormers as he scooped up a kick forward from centre Daniel du Plessis and dotted down.

However, the 13 men of Irish got themselves on the board on 50 minutes as a rumbling maul earned them a penalty try in a carbon copy of the Stormers’ opening score.

The visitors’ captain Steven Kitshoff was sent to the sin bin amid the cynical infringement, but the contest would fizzle out of the final half an hour.

Replacement prop Fischetti powered over on 76 minutes to see Irish end the game on a positive, with Nel squandering the chance to add a fifth try for the Stormers as he knocked on when grounding.

In the final round of pool stage games next weekend, London Irish travel to Montpellier Hérault Rugby on Sunday, with the Stormers hosting ASM Clermont Auvergne the day prior.

Man of the match: There were not many candidates due to the scrappy nature of the game. However, Ruhan Nel was certainly the cut above the rest, especially in the first half. The Stormers’ backline looked dangerous in the first half with him in the midfield and he scored a good intercept try. He will be kicking himself for dropping the ball over the tryline in the closing stages of the game.

The scorers:

For London Irish:
Try: Penalty Try, Fischetti
Con: Jennings

For Stormers:
Tries: Penalty Try, Nel, Hartzenberg, Davids
Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3

Red cards: Ben Loader (London Irish, 18′ – foul play, high tackle); Ciaran Parker (London Irish, 43′ – foul play, dangerous clear-out)

Yellow cards: Juan Martin Gonzalez (London Irish, 14′ – cynical play, collapsing the maul); Steven Kitshoff (Stormers, 51′ – cynical play, collapsing the maul)

Teams:

London Irish: 15 Ben Loader, 14 Lucio Cinti, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Rory Jennings, 9 Ben White, 8 Matt Rogerson (captain), 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Api Ratuniyarawa, 3 Lovejoy Chawatama, 2 Mike Willemse, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke.
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Chunya Munga, 20 Josh Basham, 21 Chandler Cunningham-South, 22 Joe Powell, 23 Michael Dykes.

Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Junior Pokomela, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Connor Evans, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Simon Miller, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Willie Engelbrecht, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Referee: Ludovic Cayre (France)
Assistant Referees: Pierre-Baptiste Nuchy (France) & Stéphane Crapoix (France)
TMO: Eric Briquet-Campin (France)

Additional source: @ChampionsCup