The Stormers ran in six tries to register a bonus point 38-22 win against Benetton in their final pool game of this year’s United Rugby Championship in Stellenbosch on Friday night to give themselves a chance of finishing second on the points table.
John Dobson’s men did everything asked of them, but their final log position would be determined by the winner of the Ulster versus Edinburgh match in Belfast, later Friday night.
A win by Ulster would push the Stormers to third, but a shock Edinburgh triumph would see the Cape side finish second.
Tough first half
At one stage in the first half in Stellenbosch it looked like the Stormers would struggle to get the better of the Italian outfit — as was the case against Irish team Munster in Cape Town the week before when the visitors beat the defending champions — but a strong second half showing put all concerns to bed as the home team showed their class.
In a tight first half where Benetton matched much of what the Stormers threw at them, Angelo Davids and Willie Engelbrecht scored tries, in the 14th and 43rd minutes respectively, with nothing much else in between to get excited about.
Alessandro Izekor scored Benetton’s first try, while Evan Roos was sin-binned for foul play and the Stormers also suffered a setback at lock where first Ruben van Heerden was injured and replaced by Ernst van Rhyn, just for the latter man to also leave the field injured and be replaced by Ben-Jason Dixon.
Second half
At 12-10 at the start of the second half it was anyone’s game to win, but a second try by Engelbrecht, followed by five-pointers by JJ Kotze and Clayton Blommetjies put the Stormers 31-15 up and in control.
Then against the run of play, Manuel Zuliani scored a second try for Benetton midway through the second half, but replacement loose forward Marcel Theunissen got the Stormers’ sixth try on 66 minutes to put the Stormers 38-15 up after Manie Libbok’s conversion.
In the latter stages of the match Seabelo Senatla was sin-binned for dangerous play, while Benetton were awarded a penalty try, with Stormers flank Hacjivah Dayimani also sent off for the remainder of the match.
