Stormers' ill-discipline proves costly against Ulster
MATCH REPORT: Ulster cemented their place in the top five of the United Rugby Championship with a hard-fought 38-34 win over the Stormers on Friday in Belfast.
Ulster outscored the Cape Town franchise six tries to four.
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The victory means that Ulster are fifth on the URC table with 37 points.
The Stormers managed to bag two losing points, which will see them in seventh with 35 points.
The results will certainly not sit well with John Dobson, who saw his side produce a dream start, racing to a 17-0 lead after 20 minutes.
However, they lost the plot, and their ill-discipline took over proceedings.
The Cape Town-based franchise played with 13 men in the second half after Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was handed a yellow card on the stroke of half-time and captain Neethling Fouche was given a red card.
Loose forward Evan Roos opened the scoring in just the third minute as he raced through a gap after taking a well-timed pass from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
The flyhalf took them into double figures shortly afterwards as he coolly slotted a drop-goal.
The second try came quickly as a wayward pass was collected by Ben Loader, who strolled clear of some poor Ulster defence.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu made no mistake with the extra two, handing the Stormers a 17-0 lead.
Ulster finally enjoyed some possession inside the Stormers’ half, and after some great forward power, wing Rob Baloucoune dived over in the corner, 5-17.
The Stormers conceded a few penalties, which allowed Ulster to gradually work their way back into the game.
John Cooney looked set to score, but Kieran Treadwell’s tackle on Dan Du Plessis was deemed a foul.
The hosts created another try-scoring opportunity thanks to their great line-out, but a knock-on nullified their efforts.
The Irish side eventually got their five-pointer when Rob Herring powered over the line. Cooney added the extras to cut the deficit to five points.
What followed was a horrible spell for Feinberg-Mngomezulu. The star flyhalf first missed a penalty and then was sent to the sin bin for a cynical foul on Baloucoune.
In his absence, Jack Murphy scored a try, which saw the teams deadlocked at 17-17 at the break.
With a man down, the Stomers started the second stanza on the backfoot, and it only got worse as the visitors were down to 13 early in the second half when Fouche was shown a red card for what was ruled a dangerous tackle.
Ulster took advantage of the extra numbers and would score three more tries in the second half, but the Stormers never let their heads drop and kept in the fight.
Replacement loose forward Willie Engelbrecht raced through for the third try, and the fourth came from Roos, who forced his way over from close range with five minutes to go.
That gave the Stormers a chance to push for the win, and they gave it all they had, but Ulster managed to hold out under pressure to finish as winners by just four points.
The Stormers will return to Cape Town and will end the league phase of the season with four home games against Connacht, Benetton, Dragons, and Cardiff.
Man of the match: Our nod goes to Jacob Stockdale. The Ulster wing was lethal with ball in hand and proved to be a handful for the Stormers’ defence.
The scorers:
For Ulster:
Tries: Baloucoune, Herring, Murphy, Stockdale, Ward, Moore
Cons: Cooney 2, Murphy, Doak
For Stormers:
Tries: Roos 2, Loader, Engelbrecht
Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 4
Drop Goals: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 2
Yellow cards: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (Stormers, 40 – deliberate foul play), Harry Sheridan (Ulster, 71 – cynical play)
Red card: Neehtling Fouche (Stormers, 45 – illegal and dangerous tackle)
Teams
Ulster: 15 Michael Lowry, 14 Rob Baloucoune, 13 Ben Carson, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jack Murphy, 9 John Cooney, 8 David McCann, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Matty Rea, 6 Kieran Treadwell, 4 Alan O’Connor (captain), 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Andrew Warwick.
Replacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Callum Reid, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Harry Sheridan, 20 James McNabney, 21 Nathan Doak, 22 Stewart Moore, 23 Zac Ward.
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Connor Evans, 3 Neethling Fouché (captain), 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 André-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Jurie Matthee, 23 Wandisile Simelane.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Eoghan Cross (Ireland), Andrew Fogarty (Ireland)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)
United Rugby Championship
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