Bok concern as Edinburgh pips Stormers in arm wrestle

MATCH REPORT: The Stormers went down 17-13 to Edinburgh at Hive Stadium in Round Two of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

The Stormers struggled to get into their groove in the first half, with Edinburgh bossing the territory by 87 percent to the 13 of the Capetonians.

Despite playing against a strong wind, the Stormers didn’t do themselves any favours, losing six line-outs in the first half, with Vernon Paulo the main culprit after coming on as a replacement for Bok hooker Andre-Hugo Venter, who went off with a concussion in the 22nd minute, which could rule him out of next weekend’s clash against the Sharks.

*To recap all the action, CLICK HERE!

Edinburgh opened the scoring with a penalty goal by James Grayson in the fifth minute after Andre-Hugo Venter failed to roll away from the breakdown.

Yaqeen Ahmed sliced a sitter to level the score, and Grayson missed one as well before solid defence by the Stormers late in the first half denied Edinburgh a try after they were inches away from scoring.

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Ahmed got the Stormers on the scoreboard after 48 minutes in his second attempt at the posts before slotting another one three minutes later to take his side into the lead for the first time in the match.

Edinburgh scored the first try of the match in the 57th minute through Paul Hill following an overthrown line-out by Paulo to allow Jerry Blyth-Lafferty a linebreak that led to the score.

Seabelo Senatla also received a yellow card for slowing the ball down illegally at the breakdown following the Blyth-Lafferty linebreak.

Edinburgh, moments later, suffered the same fate for a similar infringement when Freddie Douglas was sent to the sinbin following a team warning in the first half for penalties conceded in the red zone.

The Stormers were denied a comeback score when Wandisile Simelane’s boot scraped the touchline, but they went back for a scrum penalty.

The Stormers opted for another scrum and got their reward off a dominant shove as Hacjivah Dayimani picked it up from the base to dot down. Ahmed added the extras.

Edinburgh responded through teenager Rory Mchaffie to get the hosts back into the lead in the 72nd minute, with Grayson adding the extras.

The Stormers twice aimlessly kicked possession away in the final three minutes but won a late penalty for contact in the air at the line-out.

Edinburgh put pressure on Paulo, who lost three second-half line-outs as the ball went loose and the hosts reclaimed possession off a loose ball to secure victory.

Scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Hill, McHaffie
Cons: Grayson 2
Pens: Grayson

For Stormers:
Tries: Dayimani
Cons: Ahmed
Pens: Ahmed 2

Yellow cards: Seabelo Senatla (Stormers, 57′ – Cynical foul: Illegally slowing the ball down at the breakdown after a linebreak), Freddy Douglas (Edinburgh, 62′ – Cynical foul: Illegally slowing the ball down at the breakdown)

Teams:

Edinburgh: 15 Piers O’Conor, 14 Malelili Satala, 13 Matt Currie (co-captain), 12 Kienan Higgins, 11 Geordie Gwynn, 10 James Grayson, 9 Hector Patterson, 8 Magnus Bradbury (co-captain), 7 Freddy Douglas, 6 Liam McConnell, 5 Glen Young, 4 Callum Hunter-Hill, 3 Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 2 Harri Morris, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Euan McVie, 20 Tom Currie, 21 Conor McAlpine, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Rory McHaffie

Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (captain), 12 Jonathan Roche, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Yaqeen Ahmed, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Louw Nel, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Riley Norton, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 Vernon Paulo, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Adré Smith, 21 Wandile Mlaba, 22 Andre Warner, 23 Wandisile Simelane.

Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)
Assistant referees: Jonny MacKenzie (SRU), Ciaran Stark (SRU)
TMO: Paul Haycock (IRFU)