Stormers outmuscle Zebre in bonus-point victory
MATCH REPORT: The Stormers recorded their first victory in the United Rugby Championship on tour this season with a resounding 36-5 win over Zebre in Parma.
The Stormers struggled to find their mojo in the first-half, but managed to keep the scoreboard ticking through the boot of flyhalf Jurie Mathee.
Mathee opened the scoring for the visitors in the third minute when he slotted a penalty after Danielo Fischetti was penalised for being offside.
The Stormers missed an attacking opportunity when Mathee missed touch from a penalty.
The visitors then had a scrum feed but Zebre won the penalty.
They opted to kick to the line and the visitors conceded two penalties with Zebre persisting with the lineout maul,but a great defensive effort by Van Heerden to legally collapse it saved the day for the Stormers.
Mathee missed a second kick to touch after the Stormers earned a second scrum-penalty, but made up for it with two successful penalty attempts to edge out a nine-point lead after 28 minutes.
The Stormers got the first try of the match on the stroke of half-time following a lineout move that saw De Wet break clear off an inside pass to Zas who got the ball back from de Wet to score the try which Mathee converted.
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The Stormers started the second-half the stronger of the two sides following a scrum penalty that stemmed from Zebre kicking the ball into touch-in-goal inside their own half.
Mathee added the first points of the second-half to take a 19-0 lead for the visitors.
Zebre had an opportunity to strike back almost immediately after winning a breakdown penalty after the restart and went for the lineout.
The attempts backfired as Schickerling stole the ball and the Stormers earned a penalty for a lineout infringement.
The Stormers had numerous penalties in Zebre’s red-zone, with the hosts on a team warning for scrum penalties.
The visitors opted for a five-metre scrum but the penalty went the way of Zebre after it seemed that the Stormers dominated the set-piece.
The Stormers got their second try off a good attacking build-up when they worked the ball to Hartzenberg who went over for the score.
They also restored their scrum dominance which led to Luca Rizolli being yellow carded after the earlier team warning.
Leolin Zas grabbed a brace after Dewald Duvenage sparked the attack with a quick-tap from a free-kick at the scrum and the interplay between forwards and backs gave Zas the platform for the Stormers’ third try of the evening.
Zebre finally got on the board with a great individual effort from Simone Gesi who kicked the ball forward and regathered possession to score.
Zebre knocked the ball on after the restart which gave the Stormers to score the bonus-point try when Angelo Davids went in for the score in the 79th minute which Damian Willemse converted to seal the match.
*To recap all the action CLICK HERE
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Scorers:
For Zebre:
Try: Gesi
For the Stormers:
Tries: Hartzenberg, Davids, Zas 2
Cons: Mathee, Willemse
Pens: Mathee 4
Yellow card: Luca Rizolli (Zebre: 62nd minute – repeated scrum infringements)
Teams:
Zebre: 15 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Fetuli Paea, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Giacomo Ferrari, 7 Samuele Locatelli, 6 Davide Ruggeri, 5 Leonard Krumov, 4 Matteo Canali, 3 Matteo Nocera, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti (captain).
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Luca Rizzoli, 18 Juan Pitinari, 19 Andrea Zambonin, 20 Giovanni Licata, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Scott Gregory, 23 Giovanni Montemauri.
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis (captain), 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sithembiso Sithole.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Louw Nel, 21 Dewaldt Duvenage, 22 Warrick Gelant, 23 Angelo Davids.
Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Fillipo Russo (Italy), Franco Rosella (Italy)
TMO: Mark Patton (Ireland)
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