Libbok secures Stormers home playoff

The Stormers came from behind to beat a stubborn Stade Francais side in Paris on Saturday and secure a home Champions Cup playoff.

A 71st-minute try from Manie Libbok, playing his 50th Stormers game, gave the Stormers a bonus-point 24-20 victory in a thrilling and topsy-turvy encounter at the Stade Jean-Bouin.

The win sees the Stormers secure second place in Pool 4, and a home tie in the round of 16, regardless of what happens in Sunday’s encounter between defending champions La Rochelle and Sale Sharks.

Stade certainly didn’t let the Stormers have it all their own way and, playing in front of a vocal set of supporters, took a 15-10 lead into half-time.

The hosts extended their lead to 10 points minutes into the second half and after Stade had another try disallowed due to offsides, the Stormers responded by ringing the changes and refreshing their forward pack.

The move to bring on their ‘Bomb Squad’ worked wonders as the visitors turned the tide through the power of their scrum, with lock Hendre Stassen scoring his first Stormers try after good work from Hacjivah Dayimani in the build-up.

Chaos

A chaotic period in the second half saw Stade lose two loosehead props to yellow cards after conceding five successive penalties near their own tryline. This meant that there were uncontested scrums and the hosts had to be reduced to 12 players.

However, a piece of cynical play saw Stade try to keep 13 players on the field, but this was spotted and pointed out by Stormers captain Deon Fourie, with referee Luke Pearce awarding a penalty. From there, the Stormers stayed patient with the ball and it paid off when Damian Willemse sent Libbok over for the winning try.

The Stormers still had to survive a late onslaught after Stade counter-attacked and won a scrum penalty five metres from the tryline. However, some superb defensive play saw the visitors withstand and Stassen won a breakdown penalty in the last seconds to bring an end to the contest.

John Dobson’s side will now host a Champions Cup last 16 match for the second successive season.

This article was first published on sarugbymag.co.za. It is republished here with permission.