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Nerveless 14-man Stormers grab dramatic last-gasp win over Ulster

By PA
(Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Warrick Gelant scored an 85th-minute try and Manie Libbok struck a nerveless winning conversion as the Stormers clinched a dramatic 17-15 victory over Ulster to reach the URC grand final. Ulster looked to be heading towards a Belfast meeting with the Bulls next weekend, with their 15-10 half-time advantage holding firm for most of the second half and the Stormers reduced to 14 men following Adre Smith’s red card.

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However, a box-office conclusion saw the hosts find Gelant in space on the left wing to pull level before Libbok – who had missed with all of his previous attempts at goal – fired over the winning kick. Next weekend’s final will now be staged in Cape Town, with the Stormers earning hosting duties having finished higher than the Bulls in the URC table.

Fresh from their quarter-final home win over Edinburgh, JJ Kotze and Evan Roos had given the Stormers an early 10-0 lead before tries from Rob Baloucoune and Stewart Moore, along with five points from the boot of John Cooney, earned Ulster – beaten by only three points at the DHL Stadium during the regular season – an advantage that almost saw them to a famous victory.

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Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee speaks about beating Leinster for the first time

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Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee speaks about beating Leinster for the first time

Ulster arrived in Cape Town hoping to avoid a repeat of their slow start in that previous meeting when the Stormers flew out of the blocks to open up a 14-0 lead inside the opening ten minutes. However, the hosts got off the mark early once again, with Kotze touching down from a driving maul after four minutes. Libbok’s missed conversion attempt limited the damage.

The Stormers doubled their lead after 14 minutes as in-form number eight Roos shared a neat exchange of passes with scrum-half Herschel Jantjies down the right wing before going over. Libbok was off target again from the tee and Ulster responded with a try of their own four minutes later, Baloucoune getting sent over in the corner for a score that was awarded despite enthusiastic claims of a forward pass from the locals.

Cooney followed Libbok’s lead by failing to add the extras, but he was on target to send Ulster in front for the first time after Moore made the most of a well-executed Baloucoune offload to touch down. Libbok miscued a drop-goal attempt after the Stormers struggled to find a way through the Ulster defence, and Cooney stretched the advantage to five points with a penalty on the stroke of half-time.

The Stormers’ task got even tougher when Smith was shown a red card for contact with the eyes of Iain Henderson ten minutes from time, while the URC top try-scorer Leolin Zas had already been forced off through injury. However, they put Ulster under immense pressure as the clock ticked towards 80 minutes and eventually spread the ball wide to Gelant for a try that allowed Libbok to more than atone for his earlier misses.

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4 Comments
G
GrahamVF 876 days ago

Now we know why some prominent people in the north like the “Good Sir Clive” are so against South Africa playing in Europe and the UK. Can’t wait to have a go at Sir Clive’s pet English teams next season,

B
Belson 877 days ago

Ref was an absolute disgrace and should never be allowed near a rugby field again

J
Jono 877 days ago

Brilliant finish by the DHL Stormers! All that claimed SA joining up north was a gimmick are now as we say in South Africa- "tjioepstil" Can't wait for this international tournament derby final next weekend!

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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