An injury-ravaged DHL Stormers faced an almost impossible task against a rampant Ulster. Ulster scored 5 tries in their 35-05 bonus point win.
The DHL Stormers were dominated from the word go by Ulster. The DHL Stormers lost two players before kickoff and lost a further three within the first 20 minutes of play. A clearly disjointed DHL Stormers side trailed 14-00 after the first 20 minutes of play.
The DHL Stormers clawed their way back into the match during the second quarter, however, mistakes by the visitors on the attack as well as a determined defence by Ulster kept the DHL Stormers from opening up their account on the scoreboard. A well-deserved 3rd try by Ulster gave them a 21-00 lead at the halftime break.
Ulster scored another two tries to extend their lead to 35-00. Ulster was in complete control at that stage. The speed of Ulster's attack and defence proved to be too much for their visitors.
Dhl Stormers clawed their way back in the final quarter, however, disciplined defence by Ulster kept the DHL Stormers from scoring until
Scorers:
Ulster: Tries: Nathan Doak, Ben Moxham, Harry Sheridan, Jeff Toomaga-Allen, Mike Lowry. Conversions: Nathan Doak (4), John Cooney.
Stormers: Try: Andre-Hugo Venter.
As it Happened:
13:43 Nathan Doak sniped next to the maul to score the first try for Ulster. Ulster dominated the opening minutes. (07-00)
20:42 Ben Moxham scored Ulster's second try in the corner. Ulster launched attack after attack on the DHL Stormers tryline until the space out opened up for Moxham to stroll over (14-00)
41:25 Harry Sheridan scored Ulster's third try after taking a quick tap from a penalty 5 meters out. (21-00)
43:51 Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers) was sent off with a yellow card.
45:33 Jeff Toomaga-Allen scored the bonus point try for Ulster RFC. The defence of the backline of the DHL Stormers is disappearing at a worrying pace. (28-00)
56:17 Mike Lowry had the simplest of tries as Ulster is in complete control. Brilliant interplay and padding by Ulster were too much for the DHL Stormers' defence. (35-00)
76:46 Andre-Hugo Venter broke away from a maul to score next to the poles. (35-05)
Teams:
Ulster: 15. Mike Lowry, 14. Rob Lyttle, 13. James Hume, 12. Stewart Moore, 11. Ben Moxham, 10. Billy Burns, 9. Nathan Doak, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Nick Timoney, 6. Harry Sheridan, 5. Sam Carter, 4. Alan O’Connor (c), 3. Jeff Toomaga-Allen, 2. Tom Stewart, 1. Eric O’Sullivan. Replacements: 16. John Andrew, 17. Rory Sutherland, 18. Andrew Warwick, 19. Kieran Treadwell, 20. Jordi Murphy, 21. John Cooney, 22. Ian Madigan, 23. Ethan McIlroy.
DHL Stormers: 15. Kade Wolhuter, 14. Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13. Ruhan Nel, 12. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11. Cornel Smit, 10. Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9. Stefan Ungerer, 8. Evan Roos, 7. Willie Engelbrecht, 6. Marcell Theunissen, 5. Marvin Orie (c), 4. Ben-Jason Dixon, 3. Brok Harris, 2. JJ Kotze, 1. Ali Vermaak. Replacements: 16. Scarra Ntubeni, 17. Kwenzo Blose, 18. Sazi Sandi, 19. Ruben van Heerden, 20. Andre-Hugo Venter, 21. Herschel Jantjies, 22. Connor Evans, 23. Juan de Jongh.
