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Stormers sink Sharks with late Jean-Luc du Plessis try

By PA
Belfast , United Kingdom - 27 January 2023; Jean-Luc du Plessis of DHL Stormers during the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and DHL Stormers at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Jean-Luc du Plessis’ 78th-minute try lifted Stormers to a hard-fought 24-20 victory over Sharks in the United Rugby Championship.

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Despite tries from Seabelo Senatla, Deon Fourie and Manie Libbok, the Stormers trailed 20-17 due to scores from Yaw Penxe and Jordan Hendrikse, who also added 10 points with the boot.

But Du Plessis burrowed over from close range before Libbok added his second conversion of the game to hand the Stormers a tense derby victory in Cape Town.

The Stormers went into the match having won their last eleven home games against fellow South African franchises, but it was the visitors who took an early lead through Hendrikse’s penalty.

The Sharks were only in front for four minutes, though, as the Stormers found a response when Senatla pounced on Warrick Gelant’s deft kick-through.

Libbok missed the conversion and then hooked a penalty attempt wide and the Sharks made him pay for his profligacy through winger Penxe’s try.

Hendrikse added the extras and the Sharks turned around 10-5 in front on the scoreboard, but down to 14 men following a yellow card on the stroke of half-time to Ethan Hooker.

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Match Summary

0
Penalty Goals
2
4
Tries
2
2
Conversions
2
0
Drop Goals
0
123
Carries
72
5
Line Breaks
5
17
Turnovers Lost
16
3
Turnovers Won
7

Fourie’s try from a rolling maul brought the home side back on level terms but a stop-start game that featured less than half an hour of ball-in-play time lumbered into the final quarter with the game still evenly poised.

Libbok eventually broke the deadlock stepped through the Sharks’ defence to score himself and then added the conversion to make it 17-10 with around 15 minutes left to play. But the Durban-based Sharks were not done yet as they hit back with a try and penalty from fly-half Hendrikse.

The Stormers were forced to dig deep in an attempt to get the result they craved, and on their tenth visit to the Sharks’ 22, the forwards softened up the defence before du Plessis crossed for the winning score.

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Comments

7 Comments
A
Ace 56 days ago

The Stormers sloppiness show that they are a poorly coached side. Fortunately for them, so are the Sharks.


There are tougher opponents waiting and they will be punished heavily unless the coaching improves dramatically.

G
GrahamVF 55 days ago

Same coach won one URC and runner up in another over the past 3 years. Not the basketball/touch rugby of the Southern Comp. Second toughest comp globally. And bearing in mind most of the top home grown players are playing overseas. I'd say better coaches than most SH club teams.

H
HU 55 days ago

seems like the best SA-coaches (apart Rassie of course) are rather working for better £ in Bath, Glasgow, Edinburgh or Leinster .....

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J
JW 3 hours ago
Where is the new breed of All Black 10?

Players like Prendergast and Finn Smith already have a few seasons at top club level under their belt and are now test players, at an age when NZ players make their debuts in SR.

That’s just a difference in standards. You’re confusing SR for being their local domestic comps, where it’s more accurately comparable to Champions Cup, apart from that teams are happy to throw games as it’s in a bit of a limbo in terms of importance atm.


All these kids have been playing for a comparable NPC team for years now. Sam is no where near ready for tests but he has a great temperament, much like Sextons, that makes it a good choice to speed up his development. He wasn’t even a comparable Super Rugby starter before playing for Ireland, so not a great comparison.


Fin would be much better example, but then England don’t have 3 world class Test tens in front of him (not that I’d put Beauden their but obviously in terms of young NZ players chances, he is). Would he otherwise have debuted at the same age as Fergus Burke (injury and leaving withstanding), around 24, a couple of years later? England also aren’t as pedantic to who they give jerseys to, in NZ a test jersey is very hard earned for the most part.


In general I think the effects are as you say, but the only difference is the money involved, as you yourself said, their paths are just as all over the show being loaned out playing for clubs etc. My solution to that, and what you perceive as the problem, would be to introduce university football that utilitizes the large investment they have into high performance sport.

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J
Jennifer Ross 5 hours ago
One rule for Europe's copycats, another for the Springboks

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Regards.

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J
Jennifer Ross 5 hours ago
One rule for Europe's copycats, another for the Springboks

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