DHL Stormers Survived Huge Scare Against Hollywoodbets Sharks

 

The DHL Stormers survived a huge scare to beat the Hollywoodbets Sharks 16-15 in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship on Saturday in Cape Town.

Adre Smith scored the Stormers' only try in Cape Town, with 11 points from the boot of Manie Libbok proving decisive.

The Sharks scored two tries but they remain one place off the bottom of the table while the Stormers join the Bulls on 26 points as South Africa's top team in the URC.

The visitors were dealt a blow before kick-off when veteran South Africa second-row forward Eben Etzebeth was forced to withdraw with an upset stomach.

The deadlock was broken after 15 minutes with Stormers skipper Deon Fourie making good ground.

Ben-Jason Dixon provided a brilliant offload for Smith to charge through for a try which Libbok converted.

The Stormers - who lost centre Ruhan Nel to a knee injury - turned down a couple of kickable penalties but the Sharks defence held firm close to their line.

Libbok did add a penalty when the Stormers disrupted a Sharks scrum as the hosts threatened to turn the screw.

But the visitors hit back in style to cut the deficit to 10-5 as Curwin Bosch found the freedom to fire a long pass into midfield.

Full-back Aphelele Fassi entered the line at pace and sent Werner Kok racing clear.

Libbok kicked a penalty five minutes after the restart but Bosch responded in kind to cut the gap to five points again.

The Sharks took the lead for the first time as the contest inched towards the hour mark.

Corne Rahl, who was called up to replace Etzebeth, used his power to cross and Bosch added the extras as the Stormers went down to 14 with Ali Vermaak sent to the sin bin.

But the Sharks were penalised from the kick-off and Libbok landed a third penalty.

Replacement Andre-Hugo Venter had a try disallowed but the Stormers held on to move up to sixth in the table.

Scorers:
DHL Stormers: Try: Ben-Jason Dixon. Conversion: Manie Libbok. Penalties: Manie Libbok (3).
Hollywoodbets Sharks: Tries: Werner Kok, Corne Rahl. Conversion: Curwin Bosch. Penalty: Curwin Bosch.

Teams:

DHL Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie (c), 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Sti Sithole. Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Hendré Stassen, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Willie Engelbrecht, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Jurie Matthee.

Hollywoodbets Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Lukhanyo Am (c), 12 Francois Venter, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 James Venter, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Corne Rahl, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Ox Nche. Replacements: 16 Daniel Jooste, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Joel Hintz, 19 Gerbrandt Grobler, 20 George Cronje, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Ethan Hooker.