Willie Engelbrecht in action for the Stormers against the London Irish. (Photo by Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images)
The storms they achieved their first victory in the Champions Cup when they beat the English team London Irish 34-14 at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED | Stormers 34-14 London Irish
The Stormers sealed the bonus point victory after scoring their fourth try after the whistle blew.
There were some nervous moments towards the end as the London Irish fought back valiantly after being seemingly dead and buried at 27-7 in the second half.
The Stormers, led by Springbok powerhouses Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe, dominated the scrums. The hosts also showed great initiative, but were unable to convert several opportunities in the first half.
Winger Willie Engelbrecht scored the first try as early as the eighth minute when he executed a great line from a clever pass from captain Kitshoff.
Lock Salmaan Moerat also went through what would have been a contender for the try of the season. The Stormers had run from inside their own 22-metre box, with the ball going through several hands as the Springbok second row rounded up. However, the attempt was called off as the TMO determined that there was a forward pass earlier in the move.
The Stormers dominated most of the first half, but struggled to finish, before fly fly Manie Libbok kicked a late penalty to put them 10–0 up at half-time.
The Stormers were quick on the blocks after the restart as number 8 Hacjivah Dayimani scored a spectacular try while running from almost half court. It came after London Irish failed to handle a high cross shot from Libbok.
A few minutes later, winger Leolin Zas completed another spectacular team effort that started from deep for the Stormers 22. Dayimani was once again prominent on the move as the Stormers displayed some silky passing skills running from deep (24-0 ).
London Irish got on the scoreboard when South African-born hooker Mike Willemse scored a try with a powerful maul. Flyhalf Paddy Jackson converted to cut the score to 24-7 after 50 minutes.
Libbok scored a penalty to stretch the Stormers’ lead to 27-7 after 60 minutes.
But London Irish refused to lie down. They thought they had scored on 66 minutes when replacement scrum-half Ben White went over the top after picking up a chip behind the Stormers defence. However, the try was called off after replays showed that he had tagged in the process of scoring.
After relentless pressure from ‘The Exiles’, substitute center Will Joseph scored to shock the visitors with six minutes remaining (27-14).
Moments later, it seemed all was set as Joseph dove in for his second down, but it was called off after replays showed he had pushed Stormers replacement Suleiman Hartzenberg off the ball earlier in the move.
That ended any hope the London Irish had of claiming an epic comeback. This down-the-field penalty gave the Stormers one last chance to get a bonus point to score a try and they did so when replacement flank Junior Pokomela stormed in after a driving maul.
Dayimani was named man of the match after a labored performance.
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Goalscorers:
Storms 34 (10)
Tries: Willie Engelbrecht, Hacjivah Dayimani, Leolin Zas, Junior Pokomela
Conversions: Manie Libbok (4)
Penalty: Libbok (2)
London Irish 14 (0)
Attempts: Mike Willemse, Will Joseph
Conversions: Paddy Jackson (2)
