The DHL Stormers kept their home semi-final dreams alive and leapt back into the second place on the standings with a 38-22 win against Benetton.
DHL Stormers was leading 12-10 going into the second half, with the first half spoiled by the number of unforced errors made by both teams. The match came alive in the third quarter as the DHL Stormers secured a win despite several yellow cards shown to their players.
Benetton converted an early penalty to lead 03-00 after which the host started to launch wave after wave of attacks on the Benetton tryline.
The committed defence by Benetton kept the DHL Stormers from scoring until a brilliant cross-kick by Manie Libbok was caught by Angelo Davids to score a great try after 13 minutes of play in the first half.
A brilliant break-out score by Alessandro Izekor against the run of play resulted in Benetton leading 10-05 after 18 minutes of play.
24 minutes later Willie Engelbrecht scored from the back of a 5m lineout maul.
DHL Stormers are leading 12-10 going into the second half, with the first half spoiled by the number of unforced errors made by both teams.
The DHL Stormers started like a house on fire and scored their third and Willie Engelbrecht's second try of the match after most of the team handled the ball on the way to Benettons' tryline. DHL Stormers lead 17-10.
JJ Kotze scores the DHL Stormers' 4th and bonus point try from the back of a lineout mall to stretch their lead to 24-10.
The DHL Stormers are spreading the ball at every opportunity and with 25 minutes left to play Damian Willemse sparked an attack with Clayton Blommetjies scoring an easy try in the corner to extend the lead of the DHL Stormers to 31-10.
A Stormers lineout that went wrong 5m from their tryline was controlled by Manuel Zuliani who scored Benetton's second try.
Marcel Theunissen scored from the back of a 5m lineout-maul as the DHL Stormers have taken "control" of the match, leading 38-15.
A yellow card to Hacjivah Dayimani resulted in a penalty try awarded to Benetton reducing the DHL Stormers' lead to 22-38 which was also the full-time score.
Scorers:
DHL Stormers: Tries: Angelo Davids, Willie Engelbrecht (2), Clayton Blommetjies, JJ Kotze, Marcel Theunissen. Conversion: Manie Libbok (4).
Benetton: Tries: Alessandro Izekor, Manuel Zuliani, Penalty try. Conversion: Tomas Albornoz. Penalty: Tomas Albornoz.
Teams
DHL Stormers: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Willie Engelbrecht, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Jean-Jacques Kotze, 1 Steven Kitshoff (c). Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Ernst van Rhyn, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Ruhan Nel.
Benetton: 15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Edoardo Padovani, 13 Joaquin Riera, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Marcus Watson, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage (c), 8 Henry Time-Stowers, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Alessandro Izekor, 5 Riccardo Favretto, 4 Marco Lazzaroni, 3 Filippo Alongi, 2 Siua Maile, 1 Thomas Gallo. Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Nahuel Tetaz , 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Lorenzo Cannone, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Jacob Umaga, 23 Tommaso Menoncello.