A stunning second-half performance from the Stormers saw them claim a 30-16 (3-6 at half-time) bonus point win over Clermont in their Champions Cup clash at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night.
After a tight first half dominated by defense that saw the visitors leading at the break, the second burst into life with the Stormers running in four tries to one in response from Clermont, as the home team secured a place in the last 16 of the competition. and give themselves a chance to host the playoffs.
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The first half was a remarkable display of tackling for the visitors, as they defended their area well throughout the half, making over a hundred tackles, but missing only a few.
The only points of the half came from the boot of the two flyhalves, with Stormers pivot Kade Wolhuter given the first chance to get points on the board with a long-range shot in the 10Th minutes, but with the angle difficult to see as the kick just drifted wide.
This allowed Clermont flyhalf Anthony Belleau to put the team 6-0, with a penalty in the 14th.Th minutes after Stormers hooker Jospeh Dweba drifted offside, and another in the 26thTh with Dweba again punished for not rolling away in the ruck.
Wolhuter finally got his team on the board with another long-range kick from the half in the 37thTh minute, but with the front this time easily stroked over, leaving him three points behind at the break.
The second half started with flyhalves again, Wolhuter leveled first and then Belleau put Clermont ahead again after 46 minutes.
A minute later with the Stormers on the attack in the Clermont half, replacement flyhalf Jean-Luc du Preez stabbed a grubber to 22m, and with the ball bouncing over Belleau, reached up and slapped the ball away, earning him a yellow card.
Blast into action
It proved to be a valuable 10 minutes in the bin when the Stormers burst into action scoring three tries and 19 points in the period.
The first was from the resulting penalty which was kicked to the corner, as the Stormers secured a lineout and set up a maul, with substitute Evan Roos, who was replaced by Evan Roos, stopping and slotting home the converted effort.
The second came four minutes later after winger Suileman Hrtzenberg broke the touchline and made a tremendous offload to replace scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies who followed, allowing him to head into the corner for an unconverted try.
The third came in 56Th minutes as Dweba popped up perfectly inside the pass to center Dan du Plessis, who broke into 22m, stepped the last defender and went through next to the uprights, with Du Preez as an extra to give the Stormers a 25-9 lead.
A poor long pass from Hartzenberg in the 60Th minutes then gave Clermont a way back as the wing Bautista Delguy intercepted and sprinted away to score a converted try.
But the Stormers responded soon after as they went up the other end, set a 5m lineout and powered through the maul, with Deon Fourie dotting down a five-pointer to make it 30-16 at 65.Th minutes, which proved to be the final points of the game.
Goal scorer
Stormers: Tries – Evan Roos, Herschel Jantjies, Dan du Plessis, Deon Fourie; Conversion – Jean-Luc du Preez (2); Penalty – Kade Wolhuter (2)
Clermont: Try – Bautista Delguy; Conversion – Gabin Michet; Penalties – Anthony Belleau (3)