DHL Stormers come up short at home

The DHL Stormers went down 33-24 in their Vodacom URC encounter with Connacht at DHL Stadium on Saturday.

It was a disappointing ending as the Irish side came from behind to secure the win that keeps their play-off hopes alive.

After a touching tribute to DHL Stormers Team Manager Chippie Solomon, who sadly passed away last week, the match got underway in dry conditions.

The home side were reduced to 14 when Deon Fourie was shown a yellow card for a high tackle and the Irish side took advantage by scoring in the corner shortly afterwards.

Evan Roos made it 10 tries this season, when he took a great offload from Scarra Ntubeni to race through and score to level it up at 7-7.

Both teams had their opportunities, with the defences holding strong until a scrum penalty on halfway on the stroke of half-time gave Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu a long-range shot at goal.

He made no mistake, slotting the kick to send the DHL Stormers into the break up 10-7.

They added to the advantage early in the second half as a powerful maul put them in position before Ntuthuko Mchunu powered over for the second try.

Connacht got one back as they scrambled over for a second try, which brought it back to a three-point game.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored next as he dummied to ghost through a gap and cap a period of dominance in the 22, but Connacht responded with a try of their own through centre John Devine after the restart had been spilled.

The Irish side backed that up with a try against the run of play, with scrumhalf Ben Murphy finishing a counter-attack to give them the lead at 26-24.

Flyhalf Sean Naughton scored a late intercept try, which sealed the win for his team.

The scorers:

For DHL Stormers:
Tries: Roos, Mchunu, Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3
Pen: Feinberg-Mngomezulu

For Connacht:
Tries: Hurley-Langton, Boyle, Devine, Murphy, Naughton
Cons: Gilbert 4

DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Damian Willemse, 13 Ruhan Nel (captain), 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 André-Hugo Venter, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Neethling Fouché, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Wandisile Simelane.

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