Quins kick Stormers from Stoop

MATCH REPORT: The Stormers’ woes continued on Saturday evening after going down to Harlequins by 16-53 in the Champions Cup at Twickenham Stoop.

The hosts were magnificent in most, if not all parts of their game, but one part that one can argue where the game was won and lost, is the aerial battle.

The Stormers back three had a nightmare in the air and Harlequins exploited the visitors in that aera and gained ample territory and possession – with the Stormers’ ill-discipline making life harder for themselves in the process.

Harlequins showed great ambition with ball-in-hand from the outset by trying to run from their own 22 metre area but it was the Stormers who drew first blood when Mathee slotted a penalty in the second minute after Harlequins conceded a breakdown infringement.

The Stormers came close to scoring when Senatla made an outside break and gave it back inside to Du Plessis who had his pass back inside intercepted, but the Stormers got a second bite of the cherry with an attacking scrum after the ball went dead into touch-in-goal off a bad pass.

The Stormers doubled their lead through Mathee in the ninth minute for an offside penalty after they were hot on the attack, but then Simelane knocked the restart ball on to gift Harlequins an attacking scrum outside the Stormers’ 22.

The Capetonians’ defence stood firm against the hosts’ attack –  the visitors messed up at scrum time to knock it on and gifting the opportunity for Candan Murley to score the try.

Both sides had opportunities to score in end-to-end plays but couldn’t cash in on it.

*To recap all the action CLICK HERE

There were concerns when captain Salmaan Moerat was receiving medical attention to which a TMO check was done where Irne Herbst had been singled out for a dangerous shoulder to face hit on Moerat and was yellow-carded for his indiscretion in the 23rd minute.

The Stormers went to the line and started their attack only to concede a penalty for tackling a player without the ball.

Harlequins scored their second try of the night after getting momentum off a rolling maul inside the Stormers 22 through scrumhalf Danny Care to take the lead for the first time in the match.

The hosts ruled the aerial battle and also had the upper-hand at scrumtime and subsequently gained easy territory that led to Harlequin’s third try in the 37th minute for No.8 Dombrand which Smith converted to give the hosts a bit of breathing space heading into the break.

Harlequins had the near-perfect start to the second-half due to the Stormers’ ill-discipline but couldn’t cross the visitor’s line and eventually Smith opted to go for the three points and stretch the lead.

The Stormers showed promising signs on attack but Mathee opted to go for the drop goal, only for the visitors to again concede a penalty on the restart which led to a yellow card to Stefan Ungerer for a deliberate knock on and the bonus-point try for Harlequins as Dombrand grabbed a brace in the 53rd minute.

The Stormers’ aerial woes continued as Harlequins gained easy territory putting the Stormers under pressure inside their own half.

Clayton Blommetjies’ attempted chip and chase from deep backfired as the hosts went wide and captain Dombrand scored his hat-trick that totally took the game away from the visitors.

The blows continued as Senatla was yellow-carded in the 59th minute for playing a player in the air after the restart.

There were back-to-back tries for Murley who grabbed a hat-trick of his own before a TMO referral showed Angelo Davids making a dangerous head-to-head charge which saw the wing yellow-carded.

Sam Riley also grabbed the final try of the evening for Harlequins to bring the half-century on the scoreboard which Evans converted.

The Stormers got a consolation score at the end when debutants Roche and Mars combined with Simelane that saw the 19-year-old get a try on debut which Mathee converted.

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Scorers

For Harlequins:
Tries: Murley 3, Care, Dombrand 3, Riley
Cons: Evans 2 Smith 3
Pen: Smith

For Stormers:
Try: Mars
Con: Mathee
Pens: Mathee 2
DG: Mathee

Yellow cards: Irne Herbst (Harlequins: Dangerous tackle – 21′), Stefan Ungerer (Stormers: Deliberate knock on – 53′), Seabelo Senatla (Stormers: Dangerous play-playing a player in the air – 59′), Angelo Davids (Stormers: Dangerous tackle – 68′).

Teams:

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Luke Northmore, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain), 7 James Chisholm, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 George Hammond, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Simon Kerrod, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Fin Baxter
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Harry Browne, 20 Jack Kenningham, 21 Will Evans, 22 Will Porter, 23 Jarrod Evans

Stormers: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Louw Nel, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Connor Evans, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Vernon Matongo.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Corne Weilbach, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Paul de Villiers, 21 Dewaldt Duvenage, 22 Jonathan Roche, 23 JC Mars.

Referee: Ludovic Cayre (France)
Assistant referees: Evan Urruzmendi (France), Jonathan Gasnier (France)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)