The Stormers made the perfect start to their overseas tour when they clinched a 29-17 bonus-point triumph over the Scarlets in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship encounter at Parc y Scarlets.
In a fast-paced and exciting encounter, the visitors were full value for their win and with 10 Springboks in their matchday squad, they held the upper hand for long periods before eventually outscoring their hosts by four tries to two.
Springboks playmaker Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu made a successful return to action for the Stormers, after a lengthy stint on the sidelines due to injury, as he impressed with his attacking play and slotted three conversions and a penalty.
Meanwhile, Boks forwards Deon Fourie and Andre-Hugo Venter got their names onto the scoresheet after crossing for two of the Cape Town-based outfit’s tries while their other five-pointers were scored by flyers Ben Loader, and Leolin Zas.
For the Scarlets, Ellis Mee and Ioan Nicholas scored tries while Ioan Lloyd succeed with a couple of conversions and a penalty.
The opening exchanges were evenly contested but the visitors soon took control of proceedings and were rewarded in the 16th minute when Loader rounded of a flowing move after Warrick Gelant laid the groundwork in the build-up.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu was off target with the conversion attempt but shortly afterwards the visitors extended their lead when Wandisile Simelane was stopped just short of the try-line, after a brilliant attacking run, but the ball was recycled quickly and Fourie went over for his five-pointer.
Despite that score, Scarlets did not panic and on the half-hour mark Mee rounded of in the right-hand corner before Feinberg-Mngomezulu extended his side’s lead when he added a three-pointer off the kicking tee, which meant the visitors held a 15-7 lead at half-time.
The Scarlets made the brighter start to the second and narrowed the gap to a point in the 50th minute when Nicholas dotted down under the posts after the ball went through several pairs of hands in the build-up.
The next 15 minutes was a slugfest as both sides battled to gain the ascendancy but in the 66th minute the Stormers launched an attack from a lineout inside Scarlets territory and the ball was taken out to the backs before Zas breached the home side’s defence with a superb line break before crossing the whitewash.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu added the extras which gave the Stormers a 22-14 lead but the Scarlets narrowed the gap to five points when Lloyd succeeded with his penalty.
The closing stages were frantic as both sides went in search of the win but the visitors finished stronger and secured the result and their bonus point after Venter crashed over from close quarters off the back of a lineout drive deep inside the Scarlets’ 22.
The teams
Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Macs Page, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Eddie James, 11 Ellis Mee, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Josh Macleod (c), 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Sam Wainwright, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Alec Hepburn
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Jarrod Taylor, 20 Dan Davis, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Charlie Titcombe, 23 Tomi Lewis
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak
Replacements: 16 André-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Dewaldt Duvenage, 22 Jurie Matthee, 23 Damian Willemse
Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU, 27th league game)
Assistant referees: Mike English (WRU) and Tom Spurrier (WRU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)
👀 READ MORE: 👉 Will Springboks fly-half Manie Libbok leave the Stormers at the end of the season?
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/stormers-springboks-contingent-shine-in-bonus-point-triumph-over-scarlets
