The DHL Stormers kept their URC unbeaten streak against the other South African clubs alive when the hung on to beat the Emirates Lions 35-33 in Round 1 of the 2023/24 United Rugby Championship.
The Emirates started with purpose, however, their ill-discipline helped the visitors to a 27-07 lead at the halftime break. It seemed as if the DHL Stormers were cruising to an easy win until the well-known Emirates Lions final 20 minutes onslaught. The Emirates Lions scored three unanswered tries during the last 20 minutes before time ran out for the charging Emirates Lions.
The Emirates Lions scored their first try after just 5 minutes of play. PJ Botha bulldozed his way over the tryline of DHL Stormers. The home time launched wave after wave of attacks on the back of their powerful pack of forwards that dominated early in the match.
However, the DHL Stormer struck back almost immediately when Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu "dribbled" a dropped ball by the Emirates Lions, for 50m to control it and score under the poles.
Several errors were made by both teams making this match a stop-start affair. After 17 minutes of play, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted a 48-meter penalty to wrestle the lead away from the Emirates Lions to lead 10-07.
Two minutes later Clayton Blommetjies converted another penalty for the DHL Stormers. Thereafter the two teams gave their all, however, with only minutes left to play in the first half, Joseph Dweba scored the DHL Stormers' second try. The DHL Stormers' pack of forwards started to dominate, creating several attacking opportunities for the visitors. The DHL Stormers led 20-07 at that stage.
Two minutes later Herschel Jantjies scored the visitors' third try. A brilliant break by Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu set up this try as the DHL Stormers are overrunning the defence of their hosts.
The DHL Stormers led 27-07 at the halftime break with the Emirates Lions struggling with the speed of the DHL Stormers' attack as well as their own discipline.
After only two minutes of play, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu once again cut the defence from the Emirates Lions in two to score his second try of the match. The DHL Stormers led 32-07.
Not to be outdone the Emirates Lions struck back when Henco van Wyk crashed over the DHL Stormers' tryline to reduce the DHL Stormers lead to 32-14.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted his second long-distance converted penalty to take full advantage of the ill-discipline of the Emirates Lions.
Ruan Venter scored the Emirates Lions' third try from the back of a 10-meter lineout-maul to reduce the DHL Stormers lead to 35-19 with 20 minutes still to play in the match.
The expected final 20-minute surge from the Emirates Lions produced the second try when Morne van den Berg snatched the ball at the back of a fast retreating scrum of the DHL Stormers, to score the Emirates Lions' fourth try. The DHL Stormers led 35-26 with 7 minutes still to play.
A third try by the Emirates Lions during the final 20 minutes left the DHL Stormers with a two-point lead. Francke Horn scored the bonus point try for the home team with great interplay by the home team keeping their supporters on their feet. Unfortunately, time ran out for the hosts as the DHL Stormers travelled back to Cape Town with 5 log points in the bag.
Scorers:
Emirates Lions: Try: PJ Botha, Henco van Wyk, Ruan Venter, Morne van den Berg, Francke Horn. Conversion: Jordan Hendrikse (2), Sanele Nohamba (2).
DHL Stormers: Tries: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), Joseph Dweba, Herschel Jantjies. Conversions: Clayton Blommetjies (3). Penalties: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), Clayton Blommetjies.
Teams:
Emirates Lions: 1 Corne Fourie, 2 PJ Botha, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 5 Darrien-Lane Landsberg, 6 Sibusiso Sangweni, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 8 Francke Horn, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 11 Rabz Maxwane, 12 Marius Louw (c), 13 Manuel Rass, 14 Richard Kriel, 15 Quan Horn. Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Ruan Venter, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Henco van Wyk, 23 Andries Coetzee.
DHL Stormers: 1 Kwenzo Blose, 2 Joseph Dweba, 3 Neethling Fouche, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 5 Ruben van Heerden, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 8 Evan Roos, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 10 Clayton Blommetjies, 11 Leolin Zas, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 13 Ruhan Nel, 14 Angelo Davids, 15 Warrick Gelant. Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Hacjivah Dayimani, 21 Willie Engelbrecht, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Ben Loader.