The DHL Stormers played the first match on their European trip at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma and kept their unbeaten record intact by beating Zebre Parma 37-20. The battle between the forwards of the two sides was the highlight of this arm wrestle with all the tries scored after good work of the forwards up and close.
The DHL Stormers started the match by dominating Zebre from the word go, using their forwards to bully their hosts. The pressure from the DHL Stormers forced Zebre Parma to make several mistakes resulting in them conceding five penalties within the first fifteen minutes of the match. An early try by Junior Pokomela followed by Neethling Fouche's with five minutes to go gave DHL Stormers a 17-00 lead after twenty minutes of play
Zebre Parma slowly clawed their way back into the match, ending the first half with 57% possession and territorial advantage after forty minutes of play. A Chris Cook try Zebre Parma scored a try with just two minutes to play in the first half, which narrowed DHL Stormers' lead to just ten points. DHL Stormers led by 17-07 going into the second half.
The third quarter was very even as both sides added a try-a-piece to go into the final quarter with the DHL Stormers leading 24-17. Both sides were tiring a lot and both sides were reverting to a kicking-orientated gameplan.
The final quarter was again a kicking-orientated battle and with Man of the Match, Sacha Mngomezulu who scored DHL Stormers' fourth and bonus-point try, to secure a five log points win by 37-20.
Scorers:
Zebre Parma: Tries: Chris Cook, Ion Neculai. Conversions: Tiff Eden (2). Penalties: Tiff Eden (2)
DHL Stormers: Tries: Junior Pokomela, Neethling Fouche, Herschel Jantjies, Sacha Mngomezulu. Conversions: Sacha Mngomezulu (3). Penalties: Sacha Mngomezulu (3).
As it happened:
04:37 Junior Pokomela scored DHL Stormers' first try from the back of a 5m line-out maul. (00-07)
15:54 Sacha Mngomezulu converted a penalty to extend the DHL Stormers lead. (00-10)
34:20 Neethling Fouche scored DHL Stormers' second try of the match. A line-out maul that started just outside the Zebre Parma's 22m resulted in a breakaway run from Junior Pokemela, whereafter Fouche timed his run to perfection and forced his way over after a pop pass from Herschel Jantjies. (00-17)
37:25 Chris Cook scored Zebre Parma's first try of the match. Zebre Parma's forwards mounted attack after attack on DHL Stormers' tryline until a small gap appeared for scrumhalf Cook to snipe and score.
44:46 Ion Neculai scored Zebre Parma's second try of the match. Several pick-and-goes gave Zebre Parma the forward domination allowing Neculai to bulldoze his way over. (14-17)
49:31 Herschel Jantjies scored DHL Stormers' third try. A dropped ball by Zebre Parma was kicked forward and controlled by Sacha Mngomezulu who passed to Jantjies to score.
58:27 Tiff Eden converted a penalty for Zebre Parma. (17-24)
61:50 Sacha Mngomezulu converted a second penalty for DHL Stormers. (17-27)
64:41 Tiff Eden converted his second penalty for Zebre Parma. (20-27)
67:29 Sacha Mngomezulu converted his third penalty for DHL Stormers. (20-30)
78:20 Sacha Mngomezulu scored DHL Stormers' fourth and bonus-point try. Sacha Mngomezulu collected an inside pass by Manie Libbok to stroll over for the try. (20-37)
Teams:
Zebre Parma: 15. Jacopo Trulla, 14. Latu Latunipulu, 13. Tommaso Boni, 12. Damiano Mazza, 11. Simone Gesi, 10. Tiff Eden, 9. Chris Cook, 8. Taina Fox-Matamua, 7. Iacopo Bianchi, 6. Davide Ruggeri, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 David Sisi (captain), 3 Ion Neculai, 2 Jacques Du Toit, 1 Juan Pitinar. Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Luca Rizzoli, 18 Matteo Nocera, 19 Gabriele Venditti, 20 Luca Andreani, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Joey Caputo, 23 Lorenzo Pani.
DHL Stormers: 15. Damian Willemse, 14. Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13. Alapati Leiua, 12. Sacha Mngomezulu, 11. Angelo Davids, 10. Manie Libbok, 9. Herschel Jantjies, 8. Evan Roos, 7. Willie Engelbrecht, 6. Junior Pokomela, 5. Adre Smith, 4. Salmaan Moerat (c), 3. Neethling Fouche, 2. Andre-Hugo Venter, 1. Allister Vermaak. Replacements: 16. Chad Solomon, 17. Kwenzo Blose, 18. Brok Harris, 19. Marvin Orie, 20. Nama Xaba, 21. Marcel Theunissen, 22. Paul de Wet, 23. Dan du Plessis.