Sacha limps off as Stormers beat Cardiff to reach semis

MATCH REPORT: The Stormers were made to sweat hard for a 44-21 victory over Cardiff in their United Rugby Championship quarterfinal in Cape Town on Saturday.

John Dobson’s side suffered a 16-22 defeat to the same opponents at Cardiff Arms Park in the final round of the regular season, and Corniel van Zyl’s side were tough customers once again in Cape Town.

However, the Capetonians had the upper hand this time around with the forwards putting in the hard yards throughout the match, especially in the mauls.

The Stormers will now wait for the result between Leinster and the Lions in Dublin to find out who they will face in the semifinals.

There will also be some concern over star flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who limped off the field with an injury in the second half after scoring a try.

Both teams had opportunities in the opposition’s 22 in the opening minutes, but there was a lack of clinical finishing when it mattered.

The deadlock was eventually broken in the 19th minute when Jacob Beetham intercepted an Imad Khan flick deep in Cardiff’s 22 before feeding the ball to Cam Winnett, who raced away for the opening try.

The Stormers eventually gave their fans something to cheer about in the 24th minute in the form of an André-Hugo Venter try from a powerful driving maul.

They went in front in the 29th minute after powerhouse prop Ntuthuko Mchunu bulldozed his way over the tryline from a well-worked line-out move.

The home side received a big advantage a few minutes later when Cardiff prop Keiron Assiratti received a yellow card for repeated scrum infringements.

Stormers captain Ruhan Nel almost scored moments later, but he was held up over the tryline.

That third try eventually came in the 36th minute when Leolin Zas brushed Winnett aside on his way to the corner.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu nailed his third conversion, and at half-time it was 21-7 to the Stormers.

Cardiff were right back in it when Taine Basham showed great speed and strength to crash over for a try from a scrum in the 45th minute. Ioan Lloyd added the extras again, and it was a seven-point ball game.

However, some sloppy play in the form of a cross-kick gave the ball back to the Stormers. After Seabelo Senatla gathered the ball, he fed it to Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who sprinted away for his team’s fourth try.

Khan pulled the conversion wide as the Bok playmaker was getting treatment before leaving the field after scoring.

The home crowd were on their feet in the 58th minute after Senatla finished off a great run with a spectacular dive in the corner. However, there was a knock-on in the build-up and the score was ruled out.

Instead, it was Cardiff who got the next score with James Botham stretching over after some excellent work from the pack. There were only four points in it after Lloyd added the extras.

The Stormers turned to their strongest weapon, the maul, to get some breathing space again, and this time it was Paul de Villiers who found himself over the tryline.

Replacement flyhalf Jurie Matthee eased some nerves with a penalty goal in the 69th minute.

The Stormers also had a Stefan Ungerer try ruled out due to obstruction, but it didn’t have an impact with JJ Kotzé going over for a five-pointer in the 78th minute before Matthee added a three-pointer at the end.

Man of the match: It was a hard choice between Paul de Villiers and Ntuthuko Mchunu. However, we think De Villiers just edges it with his all-round performance on defence, on attack and at the breakdowns.

The scorers:

For Stormers:
Tries: Andre-Hugo Venter, Mchunu, Zas, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, De Villiers, Kotze
Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3, Matthee
Pens: Matthee 2

For Cardiff:
Tries: Winnett, Basham, Botham
Cons: Lloyd 3

Yellow card: Keiron Assiratti (Cardiff, 32 – repeated scrum infringements)

Teams:

Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (captain), 12 Dan du Plessis, 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, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotzé, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Ruan Ackermann, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Jurie Matthee.

Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Jacob Beetham, 13 Ben Thomas, 12 Rory Jennings, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Johan Mulder, 8 Taine Basham, 7 Dan Thomas, 6 James Botham, 5 Rory Thornton, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Liam Belcher (captain), 1 Rhys Barratt.
Replacements: 16 Daf Hughes, 17 Danny Southworth, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 George Nott, 20 Alun Lawrence, 21 Evan Lloyd, 22 Ellis Bevan, 23 Tom Bowen.

Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Andrew Cole (Ireland)
TMO: Leo Colgan (Ireland)