The Stormers were made to work hard to pick up just their second win in five attempts over their bogey side Ospreys in Cape Town.
The Stormers backed up their stunning opening season win over Leinster with a hard fought 26-10 victory over Ospreys in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at the Cape Town Stadium on Friday night.
It ends a good two game home start for the Stormers, with them now heading on a three match overseas tour, but they may be a bit disappointed that they weren’t able to pick up the four try bonus point after a strong finishing quarter against their bogey team.
Ospreys, as they did against the Bulls, put in a superb first half showing, scoring an early try and taking a 10-8 lead into the halftime break, but as in Pretoria they faded in the second 40 as the Stormers came firing back to clinch just their second win in five attempts over the Welsh side.
Solid Ospreys start
The game started with Ospreys on the front foot, earning a few penalties and kicking onto the Stormers 5m, where they secured the lineout, set the maul and were stopped short, but scrumhalf Kieran Hardy stayed aware to snipe his way over for the unconverted score.
The Stormers responded well, taking play into Ospreys 22m, where they came very close to scoring, only for eighthman Evan Roos to lose the ball over the line.
He made amends soon after though, as a brilliant cross kick from flyhalf Jurie Matthee bounced into his path, allowing him to dive on the ball to draw the scores level after nine minutes.
Ospreys retook the lead in the 28th minute with a stunning try that started outside their won 22m, with the ball finding former Cheetahs wing Daniel Kasende to step outside, palm off a defender and race away, before finding Hardy in support on his inside to go over for the five pointer.
With time ticking down to halftime Matthee had a chance to cut the deficit, hooking an easy penalty, but slotted his next attempt just before the hooter to bring his side within two at the break.
Second half
The second half started with the Stormers capitalising on Ospreys ill-discipline, as Matthee moved them 14-10 ahead after 56 minutes thanks to two penalties.
They then gave themselves some breathing room straight from the kick-off as they secured the ball and sent it wide for wing Seabelo Senatla to break, he popped a ball inside to captain Ruhan Nel, who smartly grubbered ahead instead of trying to catch it, picked up the ball and offloaded to fullback Wandisile Simelane to go over for the converted try.
In the 69th minute the Stormers scored their third, kicking deep into Ospreys 22m, securing the lineout and setting the maul, with replacement loose forward Paul de Villiers spinning out of it and powering over to effectively seal the game.
With 10 minutes remaining the Stormers hoped that they could get the bonus point score, and pushed hard for it, with them setting up a lineout after the hooter on the Ospreys 22m, but were unable to do it as they lost the ball.
Scorers
Stormers: Tries – Evan Roos, Wandisile Simelane, Paul de Villiers; Conversion – Jurie Matthee; Penalties – Matthee (3)
Ospreys: Tries – Kieran Hardy (2)
