The battle between the fifth-placed DHL Stormers and seventh-placed Ulster produced a brilliant brutal battle with the DHL Stormers securing a 13-07 win after a great effort in the second half
Ulster opened the scoring with a try by eightman Nick Timoney to lead 07-00 after just eight minutes of play. Despite the rest of the first half being scoreless it was Ulster that dominated territory and possession while the hosts were forced to make seventy-two tackles to the fourteen made by Ulster.
The DHL Stormers upped the pace of their play in the second half and started to threaten the Ulster tryline regularly. However, a penalty after fifteen minutes of play was converted by Manie Libbok to reduce Ulster's lead to 07-03.
It took a dominant DHL Stormers almost thirty minutes to score their first try when Evan Roos bulldozed his way over the Ulster tryline to put the DHL Stormers in a 10-07 lead for the first time in the match.
Manie Libbok converted a second penalty with time already up to secure a hard-fought 13-07 win.
Scorers:
DHL Stormers: Try: Evan Roos. Conversion: Manie Libbok. Penalties: Manie Libbok (2).
Ulster: Try: Nick Timoney. Conversion: John Cooney.
Teams:
DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Willie Engelbrecht, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Brok Harris. Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Ben Loader.
Ulster: 15 Mike Lowry, 14 Rob Baloucoune, 13 James Hume, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Ethan McIlroy, 10 Nathan Doak, 9 John Cooney, 8 Nick Timoney, 7 David McCann, 6 Matty Rea, 5 Kieran Treadwell, 4 Harry Sheridan, 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 Rob Herring (c), 1 Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Andrew Warwick, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Cormac Izuchukwu, 20 Marcus Rea, 21 Dave Shanahan, 22 Jake Flannery, 23 Stewart Moore.