La Rochelle scored 22 second-half points to come from behind and beat the DHL Stormers in the Champions Cup round of 16 in Cape Town on Saturday.

Having trailed by 16 points early in the second half, La Rochelle took full advantage of an injury-hit DHL Stormers pack to win 22-21 and keep their hopes of a rare three-peat alive.

In almost a complete replica of the pool stage match between the two teams, the game came down to a kick from Manie Libbok after Suleiman Hartzenberg scored from a crossfield kick in the final minute. However, this time Libbok’s kick drifted well wide of the poles.

After a fantastic first half, the Stormers were forced on the back foot by La Rochelle’s massive pack, with all of the visitors’ tries coming from pick-and-goes near the tryline.

The home side was not helped by several injuries to key players with Deon Fourie, Ben-Jason Dixon, Leolin Zas, Hacjivah Dayimani and captain Salmaan Moerat all forced off the field.

Up until that stage, the Stormers’ plan to run La Rochelle off their feet was paying off, with the visitors unable to live with the pace of the attack and a strong wind that was blowing through Cape Town Stadium.

Manie Libbok slotted two first-half penalties, before Herschel Jantjies finished off a magnificent counter attack that started with Libbok running from inside his own half.

Libbok extended the Stormers’ lead early in the second half with his third penalty, but that’s where La Rochelle started to turn the screw.

Young prop Louis Penverne drove over the tryline and flyhalf Antoine Hastoy slotted a penalty and conversion to cut the deficit to six points.

The Stormers lost Dayimani and Moerat to concussions in the space of a couple of minutes, before Marcel Theunissen was yellow carded for repeated infringements.

La Rochelle took full advantage, with captain Gregory Aldritt reaching over the tryline, before Argentinian tighthead prop Joel Sclavi joined him on the scoresheet.

Still, the Stormers had their opportunities, with Damian Willemse having a try from a sensational offload from Hartzenberg chalked off for a knock-on earlier in the build up. Willemse could have scored in the final 10 minutes from a breakaway down the left wing, but chose to cut inside and was hauled down inches from the tryline.

To their credit, the Stormers kept fighting and gave themselves a chance of once again snatching a victory after the full-time hooter, but it was not to be.

The Stormers will have a week off in the quarter-final stage before returning to action in the Vodacom URC with a home game against Welsh side Ospreys on 20 March.

Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images

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