A very poor and error-ridden festive season game was ultimately saved by the way it finished as the DHL Stormers struck at the death with a try to Jean-Luc du Plessis with less than two minutes to go to pip the Hollywoodbets Sharks 24-20 and send a full house at DHL Stadium into raptures.
The win netted the Stormers a full house of five log points to make it 10 in two games and put them into the top eight of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship log for the first time in this campaign.
It was a game that until the 67th minute looked likely to be remembered for the huge amount of elementary errors, most of them from the home team, and the fact that until then there were more tries chalked off by the TMO than tries awarded. Also, let it be said that referee Aimee Barrett-Theron should not look back at it with any sense of fulfillment, and neither should the other match officials.
We need to catch our breath after that 😮💨😮💨
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) December 28, 2024
The DHL Stormers win a thrilling Coastal Derby to end 2024 on a high 🌩️💥#VURC pic.twitter.com/M1CWbuqSCC
BOTH TEAMS HAD REASON TO COMPLAIN
Both teams had reason to complain about the refereeing. For instance, the Stormers had a try chalked off because of a croc roll from the man who eventually scored the winning try, but yet while the penalty was awarded to the Sharks and the seven points that were completed by Manie Libbok’s conversion were cancelled out, Du Plessis was not yellow-carded.
That is just one of the many incidents that should have people scratching their heads in bewilderment, such as at the end of the first half when a Stormers mauling try in the corner was cancelled out and Ethan Hooker, who had prevented the score, was yellow-carded. If it was his illegal play that prevented the try, how was it not a penalty try?
In the end, the better team on the day won, but they made heavy weather of it against a team that lost both Aphelele Fassi and Andre Esterhuizen, two important Sharks players, in the incident that led to the disallowed second-half Stormers try, which by the way was completed by man of the match Paul de Wet.
The Stormers also lost an important player, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu feeling his arm and continuing to have that area iced from the early minutes of the game before he eventually went off with three minutes left in the half. Last week he made it to the 27th minute, but this time he was on for 10 minutes more. Stormers coach John Dobson will be hoping that one day he will make it to halftime.
But back to the game. The Sharks started strongly and had the Stormers under early pressure. Jordan Hendrikse kicked a penalty and the visitors had the early momentum, thus quietening a crowd that also had a lot of Durbanites in it, judging from the way Sharks scores were celebrated.
HOSTS SETTLED WITH SENATLA TRY
The Stormers then settled when fullback Warrick Gelant angled a cross kick behind the advancing Sharks backs and the pacy Seabelo Senatla ran the race for the touchdown. Libbok missed the conversion and then also missed a penalty kick, so the Sharks, who always seemed more incisive when running with their backline, sent Yaw Penxe in at the right corner. Hendrikse, who himself had missed a penalty kick from inside his own half shortly before that, converted from the touchline to put the Sharks 10-5 ahead with eight minutes to go to the break.
As superior as the Sharks appeared to be when they attacked down their backline, however, so the Stormers appeared to have the advantage when it came to the forwards. They conceded a scrum penalty early on, but for most of the match, as was the case in the Durban game four weeks ago, it was the Stormers who had the scrumming ascendancy, though it was more marginal than it was on 30 November.
The Stormers had a period of sustained pressure within the Sharks 22 in the buildup to halftime but could not round off and it was the Sharks who led by five at the break. Hooker was off by then for 10 minutes because of that yellow card, so it was incumbent on the Stormers to make full use of their one-man advantage at the start of the second half.
It appeared they had done so when De Wet went over off an attack that started with a great break from Marcel Theunissen off switch play and Libbok converted to momentarily put the Stormers 12-10 up after 47 minutes. Alas for them and the home crowd though, the TMO then picked up the croc roll, a good few minutes after the incident and when the game would have already been restarted were it not for the injuries to Esterhuizen and Fassi being attended to.
The Stormers went back to their five-point deficit and in time, the Sharks went back to 15 men, though with a rearranged backline, but it was the Stormers who retained their momentum despite the disappointment of the try being disallowed and skipper Deon Fourie went over in the left corner off a driving maul. Libbok failed with the angled conversion that would have given his team the lead.
FRENETIC LAST QUARTER HOUR
He was on target though after he scored a try after 67 minutes, and a Stormers team with the better game management of a year or so ago should have won it from there. But an overthrow at a lineout inside the Sharks 22 gave the visitors the field position from which they struck for a try to Jordan Hendrikse that he himself converted to level the scores at 17-all with eight minutes to go.
But the game wasn’t over, not by a long shot. The Sharks were awarded a penalty soon after the restart that Hendrikse kicked to put his team 20-17 up with five minutes to go. The Stormers though managed to compose themselves, found their drive and after a scrum penalty set them up with a lineout just outside the Sharks 22, they had an opportunity.
You would have thought it was too far to drive, but somehow they managed it, with replacement centre Du Plessis crashing over among a melee of players as the referee extended her arms to signal penalty advantage.
Libbok cleverly wound down the clock as he lined up his relatively easy conversion so that there was hardly any time left after the restart, which saw the Sharks knock on to set up a Stormers scrum as the last play of the game. Under pressure from his opposite number, De Wet cleared to Libbok who very nearly made a mess of his clearance into the stands to end the game and make sure of a valuable five log points for the Stormers.
Scores
DHL Stormers 24 - Tries: Seabelo Senatla, Deon Fourie, Manie Libbok and Jean-Luc du Plessis; Conversions: Manie Libbok 2. Hollywoodbets
Sharks 20 - Tries: Yaw Penxe and Jordan Hendrikse; Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse 2; Penalties: Jordan Hendrikse 2.