The bleak numbers behind the Stormers' semifinal exit
STATS: The 20-11 United Rugby Championship semifinal scoreline between Leinster and the Stormers is a fair reflection given how tight the match was until the 68th minute, but the Stormers’ overall numbers don’t make for good reading.
Referee Hollie Davidson came under scrutiny for her performance in the semifinal, especially from those hailing from the Western Cape region.
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The only real questionable call one can single out is Salmaan Moerat’s yellow card for deliberately kicking the ball out of Jamison Gibson-Park’s hand whilst looking in the opposite direction.
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Salmaan Moerat sees yellow for apparently intentionally kicking the ball out of a player’s hands while looking in the opposite direction. Leinster score.
🔵 20-11 ⛈️ (72 mins)#LEIvSTO #inittogether @Vodacom #URC
— DHL Stormers (@THESTORMERS) June 6, 2026
But what do the numbers say in the overall context of this match?
For starters, Leinster made 155 carries compared to the Stormers’ 78, which is low for a team that’s been dominant in that area for most of the season.
The Stormers only had three linebreaks compared to Leinster’s eight and lost 17 turnovers to Leinster’s 16 – with Damian Willemse the main culprit, losing six.
Leinster also bossed the overall territory (58 percent) and possession (66 percent).
In the set-pieces, the only shining light was the Stormers scrum, which functioned at 100 percent (on their own feed), but their line-out, one of the Capetonians’ strengths this season, operated at a mere 75 percent, making it tough to assert their dominance in mauls and strike moves.
On attack, Leinster nearly made double the passes (209) than the Stormers did (105) and made more than double post-contact metres (395 metres) than John Dobson’s team (154 metres)
The penalty count also didn’t favour the men from Cape Town, conceding 11 to Leinster’s seven, including two yellow cards and a red card.
The Stormers were also forced to make 218 tackles, with Leinster making just 90.
Defence drains energy, and it was evident towards the latter part of the game that the Stormers were running on fumes.
The Stormers missed 33 tackles in the process and finished with a slightly better tackle completion rate (87 percent) between the two sides.
The fact of the matter is, these numbers suggest that Leinster were the better team on the day overall and that the Stormers’ season didn’t go down the drain due to an officiating call, but rather on falling short in most aspects of their game.
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