Cape Town — The Stormers defeated Edinburgh 28-17 in their United Rugby Championship quarter-final at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday to secure their place in the semi-finals.
At times, especially in the first half, it wasn’t the greatest display of rugby but, ultimately, showiness mattered not as the hosts went on to get the job done against the Scottish side.
The Cape side scored three three tries to Edinburgh’s two, and while they suffered some disruption when they lost inside centre Rikus Pretorius — who was replaced by debutant utility back Sacha Mngomezulu — early in the game, they still did their thing.
It took the Stormers only a couple of minutes to get onto the scoresheet when Warrick Gelant rounded off after loose forward Hacjivah Dayimani hit a gap and offloaded to the attacking catalyst. Flyhalf Manie Libbok added the conversion to take an early lead (7-0).
Edinburgh gained a presence on the scoreboard courtesy of three points right in front of the posts after seven minutes with fullback Emiliano Boffelli hitting his target (7-3).
With 10 minutes gone, the Stormers were working their way up well to the whitewash. An error by the Scots allowed the hosts an opportunity and, given how under the pump Edinburgh were, the Cape side perhaps should have backed themselves to go for the corner, but they opted for posts, with Libbok adding three points to go 10-3 ahead.
The visitors got their first try after a maul through hooker Dave Cherry, which saw the scores locked at 10-all after 15 minutes.
The scrum was of course a big talking point building up to the game, and it took around 20 minutes before we saw the first one. It was an area that the Stormers can confidently feel they won.
John Dobson’s side looked set to score another, but some poor decision-making after a top break by Evan Roos saw the opportunity go to waste.
Going into the break tied at 10-10 after a yellow card to Edinburgh No 8 Magnus Bradbury for a high tackle, the Stormers started strongly, with former Sevens star Ruhan Nel touching down after the ball was swiftly worked through the hands out wide (17-10).
After a second penalty conversion by Libbok, the Stormers hit again after some big work by the ever-present Roos (25-10) in the 53rd minute. Seeing as Edinburgh’s Hamish Watson knocked the ball out of his hands on the ground in their 22 and the try was given, the question needs to be asked as to why they weren’t shown yellow.
Edinburgh responded not too long afterwards when scrumhalf Henry Pyrgos took it to 25-17, and well into the third quarter, undisputed Man of the Match Roos broke free again to grant Libbok a shot at posts to stretch their lead (28-17).
The hosts were in control towards the end of the game, and it proved enough to book their semi against Ulster in Cape Town next weekend.
Point-scorers:
Stormers 28 — Tries: Warrick Gelant, Ruhan Nel, Evan Roos Conversions: Manie Libbok (2) Penalties: Libbok (3)
Edinburgh 17 — Tries: Dave Cherry, Henry Pyrgos Conversions: Emiliano Boffelli (2) Penalty: Boffelli Yellow card: Magnus Bradbury
IOL Sport