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Stormers and Springbok captain Siyamthanda Kolisi put his hand up and accepted ‘blame’ for his team’s third straight loss on their tour of Australasia.
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Both sides did everything but get on the scoreboard at Suncorp Stadium this past Friday – in the competition’s first scoreless opening stanza in six years.
But Kolisi’s sin-binning on the stroke of half-time broke the shackles, with the Reds prevailing in a five-try second half.
Kolisi’s 10 minutes off the field was decisive, with the Reds getting two touchdowns in his absence on their way to a 24-12 win.
The Stormers’ pain was made worse by three disallowed tries. Kolisi admitted his yellow card was a deciding factor.
“We started well and created a lot of opportunities but obviously the yellow card made a huge difference,” he said. “That was the turning point.”
The Stormers, who rested Springboks forwards Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit, had the early momentum and Damian Willemse thought he had the first points when he got under a box kick, only to dot down on the dead ball line.
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There was more agony minutes later when wing Sergeal Petersen dived over for a try, only for replays to show he stepped out of play just before grounding the ball.
There were few other opportunities before Kolisi was penalised for holding on at the breakdown seconds before half-time.
With an extra man at the restart, Kerevi and Brandon Paenga-Amosa scored tries and Bryce Hegarty booted the conversions.
When Kolisi returned, the Stormers pulled one back through Kobus van Dyk, only for Reds scrumhalf Tate McDermott to catch them napping soon after, taking a quick penalty and darting over.
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Damian De Allende got a late consolation for the Stormers but another disallowed try, from Kolisi, summed up their match.
They have now lost the first three of their four-match Australasian tour, with the Melbourne Rebels up next.
