Stormers score 10 tries on their way to victory in George
MATCH REPORT: The Stormers got their pre-season underway with a 64-26 win over SWD Eagles in George on Friday.
The Capetonians outscored the home side by 10 tries to four during the 80 minutes.
The clash at Outeniqua Park saw 28 players get some valuable gametime, with more pre-season fixtures to come at the same venue next Friday against SWD and the Sharks.
It did not take long for the scoreboard to start moving as centre Mnombo Zwelendaba cruised over after his team won some dominance in the 22.
The home side took the lead though when hooker Steph Leonard burst through to score in the corner, with the touchline conversion making it 7-5.
The Stormers XV went back in front when flyhalf Jurie Matthee stepped over and there were further tries from scrumhalf Stef Ungerer, fullback Clayton Blommetjies and lock Gary Porter before SWD responded with a second from their fullback Josh Vermeulen.
The visiting team had the final say in the first half, with a maul try from hooker Scarra Ntubeni, which made it 38-14 at half-time.
Centre Juan de Jongh scored early in the second half before rolling back the years with a Gangnam Style celebration, to the delight of the crowd.
The SWD Eagles responded with a third try, before Courtnall Skosan showed good pace to finish, taking a well-timed pass from Godlen Masimla.
JJ Kotze got on the scoresheet after Hendre Stassen had collected a cross-kick from Warrick Gelant and prop Lizo Gqoboka followed that up by powering over from close range for the tenth try.
The Eagles scored once more against the run of play, with a long-range grubber finding its mark on the counter-attack to end on a high for the home side.
The scorers:
For Stormers XV:
Tries: Zwelendaba, Matthee, Ungerer, Blommetjies, Porter, Ntubeni, De Jongh, Skosan, Kotze, Gqoboka
Cons: Matthee 7
For SWD Eagles:
Tries: Leonard, Vermeulen, Yaya, Booysen
Cons: Vermeulen 3
Teams
Stormers XV: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Mnombo Zwelendaba, 12 Cornel Smit, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Jarrod Taylor, 6 Willie Engelbrecht, 5 Gary Porter, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Brok Harris (captain), 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements – from: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Lizo Gqoboka, 19 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 20 Hendre Stassen, 21 Dylan Sjoblom, 22 Keenan Opperman, 23 Tom Bursey, 24 Godlen Masimla, 25 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 26 Juan de Jongh, 27 Chris Hollis, 28 Warrick Gelant.
