Cardiff punish ill-disciplined, wasteful Stormers
MATCH REPORT: The Stormers possibly blew the opportunity to finish in the top two of the United Rugby Championship after succumbing to a 16-22 loss to Cardiff at the Arms Park on Friday evening.
The Stormers, much like last week against Ulster, squandered numerous scoring opportunities near the line, whilst Cardiff took theirs to outscore the visitors from Cape Town by four tries to one.
The Stormers’ lack of discipline also contributed to their downfall, as they conceded 10 penalties and a yellow card.
Should Leinster defeat Ospreys on Saturday, the Stormers will finish in third place on the URC table, following Glasgow’s bonus point win over Ulster to seal top spot.
The result also sees Cardiff seal their place in the top eight.
*To recap all the action, CLICK HERE!
Cardiff got off to the worst possible start with captain Liam Belcher being yellow-carded four minutes into the match for cynically slowing the ball down in the red zone.
The Stormers scrum dominated Cardiff from the outset and led to a team warning moments after Belcher went to the sinbin.
The visitors scored the opening try through a pick and drive when Adre Smith dotted down after seven minutes of play.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s conversion made the score 7-0 after as many minutes of play.
Springbok Andre Hugo Venter went off with a suspected head knock in the 12th minute and didn’t return to the pitch after being replaced by JJ Kotze.
Cardiff struck back through Jacob Beetham off a crossfield kick by Ioan Lloyd, with the flyhalf converting the try to level matters after 17 minutes.
The hosts went back-to-back after attacking from deep to set Tom Bowen up for Cardiff’s second try on the 20-minute mark.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu closed the gap to two points with a penalty kick in the 29th minute.
Stormers lock Adre Smith received a yellow card for a dangerous tackle, which was sent for an off-field review in the 38th minute, and the decision remained a yellow card.
Cardiff exploited the extra space with Smith in the sinbin and went wide to Lloyd, who dotted down seconds before halftime.
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Feinberg-Mngomezulu registered the first points of the second half with a successful penalty goal in the 46th minute to reduce the deficit to four points.
While the Stormers were dealing in threes, Cardiff dealt in fives when they stretched the lead beyond seven points for the first time in the game with a try by Beetham, who grabbed a brace and the bonus point in the 49th minute.
Cardiff went down to 14 players after the fulltime hooter when Daf Hughes was sent to the sinbin for playing Stefan Ungerer on an advancing maul.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu slotted the penalty to secure the losing bonus point, which takes the Stormers out of reach of the Bulls, who face Benetton on Saturday.
Scorers
For Cardiff:
Tries: Beetham 2, Bowen, Lloyd
Con: Lloyd
For the Stormers:
Try: Smith
Con: Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Pens: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3
Yellow cards: Liam Belcher (Cardiff, 4′ – Cynical foul: slowing the ball down illegally in the red zone), Adre Smith (Stormers, 38′ – Dangerous play: high tackle), Daf Hughes (Cardiff, 81′ – Cynical foul: playing the scrumhalf on an advancing maul)
Teams
Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Jacob Beetham, 13 Ben Thomas, 12 Rory Jennings, 11 Tom Bowen, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Johan Mulder, 8 Taine Basham, 7 Dan Thomas, 6 James Botham, 5 Rory Thornton, 4 George Nott, 3 Javan Sebastian, 2 Liam Belcher, 1 Danny Southworth
Replacements: 16 Daf Hughes, 17 Rhys Barratt, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Alun Lawrence, 20 Evan Lloyd, 21 Ellis Bevan, 22 Stef Emanuel, 23 Leigh Halfpenny
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Jonathan Roche, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Neethling Fouché (captain), 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotzé, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Keke Morabe, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Jurie Matthee
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Ben Connor (Wales), Lucas Yendle (Wales)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
Image credit: @CardiffRugby
