Sunday Times E-Edition

Stormers, TV truck on fire at Loftus

Late try snatches dramatic victory over the Bulls

By LIAM DEL CARME

● In a remarkable match that marked their return to the United Rugby Championship, the Stormers upstaged the Bulls 30-26 at Loftus yesterday.

Apart from fortunes fluctuating wildly during the match, proceedings on the field were also affected when TV transmission ceased after broadcaster SuperSport’s outside broadcast truck caught fire.

First there was a short break in transmission, but later the feed had to be cut.

On the field, and witnessed only by the 2,000 spectators, the Stormers scored a late converted try through replacement scrumhalf Paul de Wet to snatch victory.

They looked down and out after the Bulls came storming back after falling behind 18-0 in the first half.

The Bulls scored 26 unanswered points but the Stormers dusted themselves off at the end with tries by Herschel Jantjies and De Wet to take the win.

The late tries sealed the win with much of the groundwork laid in the first half when the Stormers repelled the resurgent Bulls in the second quarter with stout defence.

To be fair, the Bulls did not help their cause with their frenetic, rushed approach.

Stormers flyhalf Manie Libbok pulled all the right strings, in the first half at least, when he operated in concert with wing Seabelo Senatla, who scored the team’s first two tries.

The Stormers were aided no end by Bulls wing Madosh Tambwe, who could not master the bouncing ball on his own try line. While he was trying to track the ball’s next bounce, Senatla pounced in the corner for the first try.

His second came as a result of a deft kick into space by Libbok.

While Senatla’s tries advanced the Bulls on the scoreboard, it was the Stormers’ stout defence that prevented the Bulls from doing the same. Marvin Orie, Deon Fourie, Ernst van Rhyn and Steven Kitshoff were the defensive pillars.

Van Rhyn, however, was yellow-carded after the halftime siren and the Bulls made the one-man advantage count with a maul try. This reward for the Bulls, who played with more vigour and precision after their first-quarter wobbles.

At halftime Bulls coach Jake White felt the need to summon the cavalry in the shape of flyhalf Morne Steyn, flank Marcell Coetzee and centre Harold Vorster, all vastly experienced players.

Another replacement, Lizo Gqoboka, arguably made the biggest difference as he brought solidity to the Bulls.

Tambwe made amends for his earlier gaffe when he surged into the line on a diagonal run after Steyn and Vorster had set up an inside pass. His yellow card later in the half however, proved crucial.

Then in bizarre circumstances, Embrose Papier scored a try that could not be reviewed before the Stormers pulled off something quite remarkable at the death.

In the earlier game the Lions and the Sharks served up a try festival in front of a small but vocal crowd.

It were the Sharks who held on at the end to win 47-37.

The Sharks, who led 27-18 at the break, were made to sweat in the closing minutes as the Lions rallied to come within three points after a try from replacement scrumhalf Morne van den Berg.

The match was marked by debatable decisions by the officials and so it proved with the last score of the game when Lukhanyo Am of the Sharks was adjudged to have scored close to the touchline.

The Sharks, however, were the marginally better side and Am was instrumental in many of their incursions.

He made the pass to Aphelele Fassi, who scored the Sharks’ first try, and it was his well weighted grubber that Makazole Mapimpi ran onto for the first of his three tries.

Sport

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2022-01-23T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-23T08:00:00.0000000Z

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