The Stormers turned on the style to open their European Investec Champions Cup campaign with a commanding 49-12 victory over the Bristol Bears in Cape Town on Saturday.
Like all fixtures across the rugby community today, the pre-game build-up was an emotionally charged affair following the sudden and untimely passing of Lions lock Hyron Andrews. As expected, the Stormers and Bears, along with the relatively good crowd, held a moment of silence for the 31-year-old before the action kicked off.
And when it did, it was the visitors who enjoyed the better start across the opening five minutes or so, but once the Stormers overcame the early onslaught and settled into a rhythm of their own, there was nothing Bristol could do to stem the tidal wave.
The three standout features from today’s encounter were the Stormers’ dominant scrum, their clinical execution when in the red zone and Sacha Feinberg-Mngozulu’s near-perfect place-kicking display (seven from eight), the last which have been inconsistent in the early stages of the URC.
FIRST HALF RECAP: STORMERS KEEP BEARS AT BAY AND THEN FIRE
Bristol made a fast start, depriving the Stormers of the ball and instead forcing them into defence mode. Unfortunately for English Premiership side, the failure to turn that early dominance into points cost them dearly later in the game.
Because the Stormers’ fetchers were limited at the breakdown up to that point, it took a special solo turnover effort by Seabelo Senatla to hand them possession of the ball. They set an attacking lineout and from there, Senatla was put into a gap, turned on the afterburners and dotted down in the corner for the opening touchdown.
Moments later, the Stormers thought they were in again, after a quickly taken throw-in saw Cobus Reinach scuttle away untouched, but they were brought back for a knock-on as Leolin Zas lost control of the ball before Reinach pounced. That, however, was only a momentary reprieve for the visitors, as the Stormers secured turnover possession against the scrum feed and set a lineout before their driving maul was brought down, earning them yet another penalty. From the resultant scrum, they spread the ball to Senatla, who stepped three would-be defenders before freeing up Zas for the Stormers’ second.
Flank Joe Owen pulled a try back for the visitors, but the Stormers would cross the whitewash again with Feinberg-Mngomezulu slotting the conversion to maintain his perfect record off the kicking tee.
The Stormers did hit a bump in the road when hooker JJ Kotze was given a straight red card for a for a head-high tackle. But luckily for the hosts, being a man down didn’t cost as the defence held firm until the half-time break.
SECOND HALF RECAP: STORMERS CLOSE OUT WELL
The second half had the same pattern as the first; Bristol started brightly, only this time they actually managed to score, through replacement hooker Sol Moody.
Bristol continued asking tough questions of the Stormers defence, but the hosts stood their ground from there. Reinach read play beautifully to snatch a long pass out of the air and run away to score against the run of play, but his try was disallowed for a high tackle.
While it would have been a wonderful feat and just reward for the scrumhalf himself, it made little to no difference in the wider scheme of things as Jonny Roche would eventually score the sought-after fourth try to guarantee a bonus-point win for the Stormers.
There was a late blitzkrieg of tries by Warrick Gelant, Andre-Hugo Venter and Zas to capped off a resounding all-round performance.