FULL-TIME, STORMERS 34-24 CARDIFF! Superb performance from the Stormers, who will be holding thumbs for a home draw in the playoffs, having done all they could. Bitter blow for Cardiff, who fought incredibly hard all match and came so close to staying in the playoff hunt. A great night of rugby… hope you enjoyed following the action with us.
PENALTY, STORMERS, FEINBERG-MNGOMEZULU! 34-24; A superb kick from Feinberg-Mngomezulu, and that has almost certainly gutted Cardiff's playoff hopes, unless they score before the Stormers can put the live ball out of play…
DRAMA! Stormers awarded a penlty on the Cardiff 10m… and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu elects to go for poles… this could ruin Cardiff's season, losing them a point on the log.
CONVERSION, CARDIFF, SHEEDY! 31-24; Lovely kick from 15m in from the touchline. That's a big score for Cardiff in the context of the league table and their playoff chances.
TRY, CARDIFF, HUGHES 31-22; Cardiff drive forward from the lineout, Hughes crashing over at the back of the ruck.
Cardiff drive play to the Stormers 22, the home side getting the throw-in… but they concede a penalty on the 22, Sheedy then driving his kick into the corner for a lineout 5m…
CONVERSION, STORMERS, FEINBERG-MNGOMEZULU! 31-17; Smacked over from in front of poles.
TRY, STORMERS, EVANS! 29-17; Feinberg-Mngomezulu with a lovely up and under to the edge of the Cardiff 22, he rises to claim it, the ball goes to ground and bounces kindly for him to gather, passing off to his right to EVANS who storms through to crash over under the poles.
Stormers steal possession back and drive Cardiff back into their 22, only for Sheedy to clear the ball upfield.
Sheedy eventually helps Cardiff with a big kick forward it's returned by the Stormers, and Cam Winnett sends a superb kick to the far touchline, the ball bouncing out for a lineout after Feinberg-Mngomezulu got a touch to it trying to keep it in play.
Cardiff now awarded the scrum and they clear the danger, running the line.
The scrum is called to restart… they are struggling to get things right.
Stormers with a forward pass and play goes back to the 5m, Stormers electing to scrum.
Stormers driving well up to the Cardiff 5m, where they are held up and win a scrum… and there's a penalty advantage as they look to press through the 5m line…
TRY, CARDIFF, MILLARD! 24-17; Harri Millard rounds off a lovely move, but the conversion is missed.
RED CARD, STORMERS, WILLEMSE. Carded for a high tackle
Superb running down the line from the visitors leading to a try, but the ref is looking at the TMO…
Lovely passage of play from Cardiff, running hard and with power at the home side, but three times being pressed back.
TRY, STORMERS, HARTZENBERG! 24-12; Phenomenal lob kick from Libbok in the centre of the pitch, Hartzenberg racing forward to catch it and crash over in the corner for the try. Willmse's attempt from the touchline is good… but it just pulls wide of the posts.
Stormers run the line to the far touchline, a grubber into touch offering the visitors a throw lose to their 5m.
Stormers running from the scrum, testing Cardiff on the right then the left… and Cardiff win turnover ball 7m from their line and clear the danger. Stormers lineout on the 22…
Stormers drive deep into the Cardiff half, winning a penalty on the Cardiff 5m in front of poles. They're going to scrum and look to use their man advantage to go for the five points…
KICK-OFF! We're underway with the second half…
HALF-TIME, STORMERS 19-12 CARDIFF. Great play from the Stormers and deserving of their lead, but Cardiff have acquitted themselves with playing with a man down. It should tell in their legs deep into the second half.
DISASTER! Sheedy takes too long with his kick and the blows with the shot-clock done, and two seconds later Sheedy slices his conversion through the poles… only to confront the referee about the call. There is no shotclock working in the stadium tonight, so the ref called the time. The Cardiff players are not happy with that call.
TRY, CARDIFF, HAMER-WEBB! 19-12; Sheedy pokes a perfect kick wide to Hamer-Webb on the wing, the Cardiff man running in to take the kick on the full before crashing over near the posts… Incredibly skillful rugby.
Cardiff drive up hard to the Stomers 5m line, putting huge pressure on the Stormers defence.
CONVERSION, STORMERS, WILLEMSE! 19-7; This time Willemse curls his conversion in from the left touchline! Magnificent kick.
TRY, STORMERS, ZAS! 17-7; The try stands… brilliant work from Zas.
Stormers run the ball down the line, there's a grubber down the line from Zas that's just kept in play as he follows it up… the ball goes into the ingoal area, the Cardiff defender slips and misses the ball by a fraction… and ZAS is there to touch down… but the TMO will have to help with a few calls there.
The Stormers work their way up to the Cardiff 5m line, only to be penalised, allowing Cardiff to clear the danger.
RED CARD, CARDIFF, SOUTHWORTH! The Cardiff prop is distraught to be given his marching orders in the first half… it's a tough rule but it's there to try prevent serious injuries. No malice in the tackle though.
OUCH! Danny Southworth connects his shoulder to Neethling Fouche's chin… Fouche did dip just as he went into the tackle, but I'm thinking Southworth could be in a lot of trouble here…
A frantic passage of play as both sides enjoyed some good possession, but it ends with a Stormers grubber into touch inside the Cardiff half.
CONVERSION, STORMERS, WILLEMSE! 12-7; Slotted from in front of poles.
TRY, STORMERS, HARTZENBERG! 10-7; After some super passing a gap opens up for Suleiman Hartzenberg to power through, side-stepping a tackle and rounding a Cardiff defender to storm over for a try under the poles. Lovely play.
Stormers powering into the Cardiff half with some lovely passing and driving runs…
Cardiff awarded a scrum 8m ahead of their 22… they launch the ball upfield and Willemse and Sheedy rise to challenge for the ball, with the Stormers being awarded a scrum for a knock-on by Sheedy.
Good possession for the Stormers as they drive into the Cardiff half…
CONVERSION, CARDIFF, SHEEDY! 5-7; No difficulty for Sheedy from 15m to the right of poles.
TRY, CARDIFF, SOUTHWORTH! 5-5; Cardiff's power drive can't be stopped by the Stormers, Southworth powering over after peeling off the maul.
Cardiff pour forward and into the Stormers 22. They are held up on the 5m and are awarded a penalty… Cardiff will tap and run…
TRY, STORMERS, ZAS! 5-0; Superb passing and interplay from the Stormers… Libbok with a long pass out to near the touchline which is passed back inside to Zas, who storms through at pace and runs over the tryline unopposed. Smashing rugby. Willemse takes the conversion from 15m in from the left touchline, but he leave it hanging out to the right of the poles.
Great take of a high ball from Willemse… and 30 seconds later he sends a perfect kick spiralling out for touch close to the Cardiff 22.
Stormers blow for turning the scrum and Cardiff kick their penalty to touch close to the Stormers 22… but the home side wins the Cardiff throw and runs the ball down the line…
Good driving from the Stormers takes them into the Cardiff half, where they concede a scrum.
Libbok launches a kick from the throw-in, but Cardiff are penalised for blocking a Stormers player chasing after the kick.
Cardiff with the early running… followed by a kick from Sheedy that rolls out for a lineout well inside the Stormers 22.
KICK-OFF! We're underway with the first half here in Cape Town.
We're just 10 minutes away from kick-off…
Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Harri Millard, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Gabe Hamer-Webb, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Alex Mann, 6 Alun Lawrence, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Josh McNally (captain), 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Evan Lloyd, 1 Danny Southworth. Replacements: 16 Dafydd Hughes, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 James Botham, 21 Dan Thomas, 22 Johan Mulder, 23 Rory Jennings.
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Louw Nel, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole. Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Paul de Villiers, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Ben Loader.
Once more, here are the teams…
The Stormers have won four and lost one of their last five games, including winning the last three on the bounce. They beat Connacht 34-29 at home, followed by a 56-5 home win over Benetton and last week's 48-12 in over the Gwent Dragons.
The Stormers have sealed their spot in the playoff, while for Cardiff there is plenty of work to be done.
The Stormers are in fifth place on the URC table with 50 points from their 17 matches. They have won 9 and lost 8 games this season. Cardiff have won 8, lost 8 and drawn one match, which puts them at 9th place in the table with 46 points, level-pegging with 8th-placed Munster.
The two teams each have two wins from their last four matches against one another, with a 32-17 points advantage in favour of the Stormers.
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy). Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs (South Africa), Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa) .TMO: Andrea Piardi (Italy).
Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Harri Millard, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Gabe Hamer-Webb, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Alex Mann, 6 Alun Lawrence, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Josh McNally (captain), 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Evan Lloyd, 1 Danny Southworth. Replacements: 16 Dafydd Hughes, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 James Botham, 21 Dan Thomas, 22 Johan Mulder, 23 Rory Jennings.
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Louw Nel, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole. Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Paul de Villiers, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Ben Loader.
Good evening and welcome to the Cape Town Stadium and our live coverage of the Stormers vs Cardiff URC Round of 18 clash on a beautifully still Cape Town evening.
