Stormers turn on style to smash Leinster

The Stormers were at their ruthless best when they thrashed Leinster 42-12 in front of an animated Cape Town crowd on Saturday. 

The dominant South Africans earned a bonus-point victory after tries from Willie Engelbrecht, Englishman Ben Loader, and Springboks Salmaan Moerat, Herschel Jantjies and Warrick Gelant; with flyhalf Manie Libbok — who gradually redeemed himself after a poor start — converting four and adding three penalties for a personal haul of 17 points.

MATCH RECAP

The game started off on a false note when Libbok’s kick-off didn’t travel the required 10m. But from the subsequent Leinster scrum, the Stormers pushed them off the ball and earned an early penalty, which set the tone for the remainder of the contest.

While the Leinster failed to exploit the Stormers mistakes, the home side had no such qualms as they punished the visitors when Damian Willemse pounced on a loose pass to secure possession before freeing up Loader for a converted try.

Stormers interplay and ball-handling were skills superb, but for the unfortunate positioning led to Joseph Dweba roaming out on the wing costing them what could have easily been another walk-in try the 16th minute. But that didn’t deter the hosts, who quickly accumulated a 23-point lead via two three penalties, including two wonderful struck attempts, and a second try on the stroke of half-time.

The Stormers started the second half like they ended the first: on a try-scoring note, with scrumhalf Jantjies hitting a half gap to slide over the whitewash. 

Leinster, who had a try disallowed in the first half, pulled two touchdowns back after stubbornly bashing away at the Stormers defence, but by then the game was already well beyond them and out of their grasp. 

Though it has to be said that the Stormers lost their way somewhat in the second half. They fell off tackles, while Evan Roos’ poor disciplinary record reared its ugly head again when he was sin-binned. 

But they found their second wind in the last 10 minutes when a neat show of skills saw replacement loose forward Engelbrecht and Gelant burrow over the tryline. 

All in all, it was solid outing for the Stormers as they surge up the competition standings from eighth to fifth with three rounds remaining. But considering this performance came against second-rate Leinster side stacked with inexperienced youngsters, John Dobson will be first to admit his team could’ve done even better in terms of errors made.