The Stormers started their Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign with a bonus-point 35-33 win against the Lions in Joburg.
In a game that saw nine tries scored at Ellis Park, the Stormers did enough to secure the win despite a fierce comeback from the home side.
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LIONS V STORMERS MATCH RECAP
The Lions were first to score when hooker PJ Botha forced his way over early-on, but those were to be their only points of the first half.
The Stormers drew level through some individual brilliance from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who hacked a loose ball ahead and then showed off some remarkable football skills to control the ball with his foot and score.
There were penalties from Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Clayton Blommetjies to give them a six-point advantage and they kicked on from there.
Hooker Joseph Dweba peeled off the back of a powerful maul to crash over and scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies showed his pace and eye for the gap to burst through from the base of a ruck just before half-time.
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That gave the Stormers an imposing 27-7 advantage at half-time and they secured the bonus point early in the second half when Feinberg-Mngomezulu went over for his second try with an assist from Warrick Gelant.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu added another three with a penalty from his own half to make it 35-14, at which point the game shifted once again.
The Lions ran in four second-half tries to run the Stormers close, but the visitors held out in the end to secure a bonus-point win.
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SCORERS AND TEAM LINEUPS
Lions – Tries: PJ Botha, Henco van Wyk, Ruan Venter, Morne van den Berg, Francke Horne. Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse (2), Sanele Nohamba (2).
Stormers – Tries: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), Joseph Dweba, Herschel Jantjies. Conversions: Clayton Blommetjies (3). Penalties: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), Blommetjies.
Lions – 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Marius Louw (captain), 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 Sibusiso Sangweni, 5 Darrien-Lane Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Corne Fourie.
Subs: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Ruan Venter, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Henco van Wyk, 23 Andries Coetzee.
Stormers – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Clayton Blommetjies, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Subs: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Hacjivah Dayimani, 21 Willie Engelbrecht, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Ben Loader.
