The Stormers qualified for the Investec Champions Cup’s knockout rounds but were made to work hard before clinching a 24-20 bonus-point triumph over Stade Francais in Paris on Saturday.
In a drama-filled and topsy-turvy fixture, momentum between the sides ebbed and flowed before the visitors sealed their victory when Springboks playmaker Manie Libbok crossed for the match-winning try in the 71st minute after Stade Francais held the lead for most of the game.
Herschel Jantjies, Ruben van Heerden and Hendre Stassen scored the ‘ other tries while succeeded with two conversions. For Stade, Andy Timo, Lester Etien and Mathieu Hirigoyen scored tries and their other points came via the boot of Joris Segonds, who added a conversion and a penalty.
The home side made a terrific start when shortly after the kick off Mathis Ibo won a turnover deep inside Stormers territory before offloading to the on-rushing Timo. The young tearaway still had plenty of work to do but did brilliantly to step past a couple of defenders on his way over the try-line.
Despite that score, the Stormers did not panic and in the ninth minute Jantjies spotted a gap at a ruck close to Stade’s try-line and took it before diving over for his side’s first try.
Both conversion attempts were off target but Stade regained the lead when Segonds succeeded with a three-pointer off the kicking tee in the 13th minute.
Despite that penalty, the visitors were soon camped deep inside Stade Francais’ 22 and in the 16th minute Van Heerden scored his try when he burrowed his way over the line from close range.
Once again, there was no reward from the place-kick as Libbok was timed out while lining up his shot at goal. That proved a costly mistake as 10 minutes later Stade were back in front when Etien gathered a deft offload from Segonds before crossing for his try which was converted by his fly-half.
The Stormers held the upper hand in the scrums and caught the eye with some powerful shoves at the set-piece during the final quarter of the half but, despite that dominance and spending some time deep inside Stade’s half, they could not narrow the gap and the hosts had their tails up at half-time with the score 15-10 in their favour.
Just like the opening period, Stade were fastest out of the blocks after the restart and after an extensive period of dominance they were rewarded when Hirigoyen crossed for their third try from close quarters in the 45th minute.
In the 53rd minute, Stade thought they had increased their lead when Giovanni Habel-Kuffner pounced on a loose ball at a ruck and set off on a 55-metre run before dotting down. However, his effort was disallowed when television replays showed he had gathered the ball from an offside position.
The Stormers needed a response and that came five minutes later when former Stade Francais representative Stassen crossed for their third five-pointer after good work from Ben Loader and Hacjivah Dayimani in the build up.
Libbok added the extras which meant the match was evenly poised with the hosts holding a slender three-point lead.
The visitors continued to be in control of proceedings at scrum-time and were camped close to their hosts’ try-line during the latter stages of the match. And after several infringes at the set-piece, referee Luke Pearce yellow carded Stade props Vasil Kakovin and Clement Castets in quick succession which gave the Stormers a numerical advantage as the match was drawing to its conclusion.
It did not take long for the Stormers to make that advantage count as Libbok and Willemse combined before the Springboks fly-half went over for his team’s fourth five-pointer which he also converted to seal a hard-fought win.
Stade Francais: 15 Leo Monin, 14 Peniasi Dakuwaqa, 13 Stephane Ahmed, 12 Lester Etien, 11 Mathis Ibo, 10 Joris Segonds, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Giovanni Habel-Kuffner, 7 Andy Timo, 6 Mathieu Hirigoyen, 5 Pierre-Henri Azagoh, 4 Paul Gabrillagues (c), 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Lucas Peyresblanques, 1 Clement Castets
Replacements: 16 Mickael Ivaldi, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Hugo N’Diaye, 19 Romain Briatte, 20 Sekou Macalou, 21 Jules Gimbert, 22 Tanginoa Halaifonua, 23 Leo Barre
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Willie Engelbrecht, 6 Deon Fourie (c), 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Hendre Stassen, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Hacjivah Dayimani, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Suleiman Hartzenberg
Referee: Luke Pearce (Eng)
Assistant Referees: TBC
TMO: Stuart Terheege (Eng)
