Stormers dispatch spirited Ospreys with strong second half
MATCH REPORT: The Stormers made it two wins out of two matches in the 2025/2026 United Rugby Championship after they beat a plucky Ospreys side 26-10 at Cape Town Stadium.
John Dobson’s side outscored their opponents by three tries to two, with flyhalf Jurie Matthee contributing 11 points with the boot.
The Capetonians didn’t have it all their own way, and they also found themselves 8-10 behind at half-time.
However, with some key players off the bench, with the most notable being Paul de Villiers, the Stormers dominated their opponents in the second half with 18 unanswered points.
The Ospreys applied the early pressure and they were rewarded when scrumhalf Kieran Hardy dived over the Stormers’ tryline from close range in the third minute.
The Stormers eventually found their mojo, and it was Evan Roos who scored the home side’s first try in the 10th minute. Flyhalf Jurie Matthee sent the ball wide with a cross-kick, and the bounce of the ball went towards the No.8, who pounced on it in the Ospreys’ in-goal area.
However, the visitors eventually regained the lead in the 29th minute when wing Dan Kasende beat his man on the outside before feeding the ball to Hardy, who ran in for his second try.
Matthee had the opportunity to reduce the Ospreys’ lead with a penalty in the 37th minute, but he hooked the ball wide. He made up for it, however, on the stroke of half-time with an easy three-pointer.
The flyhalf also gave his team the lead in the fourth minute of the second half with another penalty goal before he made it a four-point ball game in the 57th minute after converting a more difficult attempt.
Things got even better for the home side moments after the restart when some brilliant interplay between the backs ended in a try for Wandisile Simelane.
The fullback started the move with a weaving run before he fed the ball to Seabelo Senatla out wide. The wing’s inside pass found Ruhan Nel’s boot and the centre managed to gather the ball before feeding a brilliant offload to Simelane to finish the move.
Matthee landed a tricky conversion to make it an 11-point lead.
The Stormers turned to their maul for their third try with De Villiers powering over in the 70th minute, which took the game away from the Ospreys.
Man of the match: Kieran Hardy was the standout performer for the visitors, and he also scored their two tries. Stormers replacement Paul de Villiers made a huge impact off the bench in the second half, and he also scored a try. Wandisile Simelane was dangerous from the back and he caused plenty of problems for the visitors. However, our award goes to Stormers prop Vernon Matongo, who produced another powerful performance in the scrums, and he made his presence felt around the rucks.
The scorers:
For Stormers:
Tries: Roos, Simelane, De Villiers
Con: Matthee
Pens: Matthee 3
For Ospreys:
Tries: Hardy 2
Teams:
Stormers: 15 Wandisile Simelane, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (captain), 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Connor Evans, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Vernon Matongo.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Clinton Swart.
Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Dan Kasende, 13 Phil Cokanasiga, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Harri Deaves, 6 James Ratti, 5 Huw Sutton, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Rhys Henry, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Gareth Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Cam Jones, 18 Tom Botha, 19 James Fender, 20 Morgan Morse, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Tom Florence, 23 Lestyn Hopkins.
Referee: Peter Martin (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa), Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa)
TMO: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
