A late try by Adre Smith saw a 14-man DHL Stormers team win 29-24 at DHL Stadium and deny the Emirates Lions their chance of playing in the Investec Champions Cup, but this action-packed Vodacom Rugby Championship clash may not be the Joburg team's last game in the competition.
By losing by less than seven, the Lions get a losing bonus point, and with Edinburgh heading to a big defeat in Treviso and out of the reckoning for any points from that game, that was just enough to give the Lions eighth place and straight after the game it was assumed that would be enought to get them a spot in next week’s first round of the Finals Series.
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However Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen confirmed later that his team are still vulnerable to the Ospreys, who can edge out the Lions if they win with a bonus point in Cardiff later on Saturday.
If the Bulls win their game against the Hollywoodbets Sharks and Munster lose to Ulster, there could even be a Gauteng derby to look forward to in the quarterfinal round next weekend, which will come about if the Bulls finish top as first plays eighth.
CAPE SIDE LIKELY TO GO TO GLASGOW
It looks like the Stormers are heading for Glasgow next week to play the Glasgow Warriors as their bonus point win, with the winning try also being their fourth in the match, means the Cape side are assured of fifth position.
Nothing was too sure for the Stormers with six minutes to go when Jordan Hendrikse kicked a penalty from in front of the posts to take his team into a 24-22 lead against a side that lost wing Angelo Davids to a red card just before the 50th minute of the game.
Davids was dispatched by referee Marius van der Westhuizen for a high tackle on Nahele Nohamba that was a definite red. The incident sparked a brawl that was set off by an outraged Marius Louw charging in, and the replacement centre was rightly carded too, though in his case it was a yellow.
The Lions, in lamenting missing out on Champions Cup qualification, which should have been their major aim and which required a bonus point win from them, might regret their role in setting off the fight. The Stormers, without anything huge to play for, had experienced some sleepy moments during the game but the adrenaline of the fight appeared to wake them up.
The Lions had been leading 21-15 when the fight happened but two minutes later they lost that lead when Stormers loose-forward Evan Roos scored a great solo try, stepping past Willem Alberts through a loose melee and running 28 metres to score.
SHOWED FIGHT WHEN A MAN DOWN
Manie Libbok’s conversion made it 22-21 and suddenly the Stormers, even though a man down once Louw returned for the Lions in the 59th minute, were showing a heck of a lot of fight. That was exemplified by the way first Brok Harris and then his fellow prop Frans Malhberbe put in great try saving tackles as the Lions looked like they were certain to score down the left flank.
Then came a prolonged period of Lions attacking near the Stormers line, with the undermanned Stormers holding them out for several minutes in quite heroic fashion before eventually, as inevitably happens when the game is so close to the tryline for a sustained period, the Stormers were penalised for offside.
The kick was in front of the posts and the Lions faced a dilemma. They had seven minutes left on the clock at that point and the Stormers were under massive pressure - a try then would have been their third and they would have had time to score another. That would have put them into the Champions Cup. Just winning the game would be enough to make the playoffs.
As it turned out, they could still make the playoffs, but the Stormers also showed great tenacity, and big match temperament by getting themselves back into the Lions half and then scoring off a driving maul that ate up several metres and started near the 22. That will put the Stormers in a good space for next week’s start of the playoff rounds.
ACTION PACKED
The first half was fast paced and action packed, with the Lions scoring first through a Hendrikse penalty but the Stormers looking the stronger team as they responded to hooker Andre-Hugo Venter, who drove off a maul in the corner to dot down after seven minutes.
The Stormers always had dominance in the scrums and had their attacking opportunities, but they had a nightmare game when it came to their exiting. Some horrid field kicks allied to some miserable attempts to field the bouncing ball contributed to the two Lions tries.
The first was scored in the corner off a full line movement to the right after Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu had failed to field a kick and then Wandisile Simelane had a kick charged down. The conversion missed but Hendrikse had kicked a penalty not long after the Stormers try so it was 11-7 to the Lions after 20 minutes.
It was a to-and-fro game and three minutes later Feinberg-Mngomezulu made up for his earlier lapse by brilliantly taking a high ball near halfway that sparked an attack that he later featured in as he bumped off tackles near the Lions line and Davids went over in the left corner. Libbok missed the angled conversion but it was 12-11 with the hosts in front.
Then came another poor exiting attempt that cost the Stormers as the Lions found field position and JC Pretorius went over as the Lions foxed the Stormers in an attacking lineout. Hendrikse kicked a penalty two minutes before halftime to make it 21-12. The Lions had momentum, but it was a game of two halves.
SCORES
DHL Stormers 29 - Tries: Andre-Hugo Venter, Angelo Davids, Evan Roos and Adre Smith; Conversions: Manie Libbok 3; Penalty: Manie Libbok
Emirates Lions 24 - Tries: Francke Horn and SJ Pretorius; Conversion: Jordan Hendrikse; Penalties: Jordan Hendrikse 4.