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Libbok stars as Stormers defeat Connacht to reach URC final

By PA
Manie Libbok of DHL Stormers, second right, celebrates with team-mates after scoring his side's third try during the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and DHL Stormers at The Sportsground in Galway. (Photo By Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Manie Libbok was instrumental as reigning champions the DHL Stormers overcame a nervy start to beat Connacht 43-25 and book their place in the United Rugby Championship final.

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Fly-half Libbok finished with 23 points, including two key first-half tries, as the Stormers rallied from an early 8-0 deficit to claim victory in a thrilling 10-try clash at a windswept DHL Stadium in Cape Town.

The impressive Angelo Davids, Paul De Wet, Marcel Theunissen and Ruhan Nel also crossed for the South African side, with Mack Hansen, Conor Oliver, Shamus Hurley-Langton and Byron Ralston touching down in a losing cause for battling Connacht.

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Connacht captain Jack Carty – who kicked his side to victory over Ulster in the quarter-finals – drew first blood when he slotted over a straightforward early penalty as the visitors capitalised on a mistake from Stormers hooker Joseph Dweba and then a collapsed scrum.

More handling errors from the Stormers then laid the foundations for Connacht to score the game’s opening try in the 13th minute, Hansen collecting a superb long pass from Carty to dive in at the corner.

Carty missed the touchline conversion and his opposite number Libbok then showed his class as the Stormers hit back in style.

With the champions pushing hard on the left-hand side of the pitch, Libbok picked out the unmarked Davids with a superb cross-field kick and the right winger had the easiest of jobs to touch down.

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Libbok, the tournament’s leading points scorer, made light of the difficult kicking conditions to slot over a testing conversion and then put Stormers 10-8 ahead with a penalty.

The home side were starting to move through the gears and Libbok was central again as they scored their second try just before the half-hour.

The South Africa fly-half was heavily involved at the start of the move and then provided the finishing touch after Dan Du Plessis and Herschel Jantjies had combined to put him in under the posts.

The Stormers were now rampant and increased their lead when Davids collected possession from a line-out, sliced through the Connacht defence before sending Libbok in again.

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Connacht, looking to reach only their second major final following their 2016 Pro12 triumph, were on the ropes but they rallied and reduced the deficit to 24-13 at half-time when flanker Oliver twisted and turned to touch down.

Carty should have added a simple conversion but Davids was quick to race out and grab the ball after it had fallen off the tee, with referee Mike Adamson pointing out the Connacht skipper had started his run up.

Nevertheless, after a scrappy start to the second half, Connacht did reduce the Stormers’ advantage further in the 59th minute when Hurley-Langton burrowed over after a sustained period of pressure.

Carty’s conversion made it 24-20 and set the stage for a grandstand final quarter.

The Stormers were rocking but the momentum shifted back their way in the 65th minute when they made the most of a penalty advantage to score a try on the counter-attack.

Nel did well on the left before feeding possession to Leolin Zas and he sent replacement scrum-half De Wet charging through unchecked.

Connacht continued to fight and gave themselves a lifeline when Ralston touched down on the right, but the Stormers would not be denied and late scores from Theunissen and Nel clinched a place in the final.

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N
NH 54 minutes ago
Harness Skelton's might and move Sua'ali'i: How the Wallabies can fix things for Test two

Nice one Nick. I was a fan of Joe’s appointment and think in general he has done well, and I even think the game plan last week was ok, but I am not sold he has gotten his selections right for this series. As everyone has detailed, the pack was too small last week. This week, he has brought in skelton and valetini which is an improvement physicality-wise but now the back 5 is out of balance with only one legitimate lineout option in Frost. The wallabies were poor in the lineout and it meant they couldn’t get into the lions 22 in the 1st half. Its also where most WBs tries originate from. Are they going to opt for a scrum every penalty they get? 3 man lineouts? And as you show, Suaalii is simply too hesitant in D. I guess drifting is better than biting in and taking yourself out of play, but he doesn’t do much more in that last clip. Maxy has 2 involvements in that play, suaalii none. At this rate, Chieka was quicker and better at integrating marika who had more to do to learn the game, than Joe with suaalii.


Do you think that Joe is hesitant to put Suaalii on the wing because he would be exposed in the backfield in terms of kicking, positioning etc? This is the only justification I can think of and also maybe why he has picked the likes of max, potter and kellaway over the likes of daugunu, pietsch and toole. The difference in selection philosophy between schmidt and rennie has come into clear focus to me recently in terms of brain vs braun, power vs graft, workrate vs impact. In my opinion, Schmidt needed to make a hard decision on starting skelton vs a backrow that had bobby and wilson in it and he hasn’t done that. I also feel like he is almost picking a team to minimise the loss rather than win. I think starting a tate, or a pietsch, or bell could’ve signalled some more intent.

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