Stormers blow hot and cold as they down Dragons

● The Stormers mixed panache with power as they downed the Dragons 34-26 in their United Rugby Championship (URC) match in Gqeberha yesterday.

They charmed at the back and clobbered up front, stretching their unbeaten home run to 15 matches across three venues.

Of concern, however, is the way they lost their shape and perhaps even purpose after they scored their bonus-point try in the first half. The Dragons played with far greater resolve in the second half as the Stormers added only two penalties.

In the first half, though, they comprehensively outplayed the Dragons in a match in which they found more time and space than is perhaps ordinarily on offer in the URC.

The hosts revelled in it.

New Bok Manie Libbok, the evergreen Clayton Blommetjies and the long of stride Tristan Leyds had the run of the place, often putting their team in positions of promise.

Libbok’s recent time in exulted company has done wonders for his confidence, while Blommetjies was absolutely in his element. Leyds rose to the occasion in every way, especially contestable kicks.

A pack in the ascendancy though made it all possible. Hacjivah Dayimani, Willie Engelbrecht and Neethling Fouche were part of an organised and disciplined forward unit that got the job done in the first half.

The Stormers profited against arguably the competition’s most pliable scrum. Another visually arresting sign of their forward dominance was the rolling maul which yielded two early tries.

The second arrived when Engelbrecht grabbed the lineout feed and he was soon cocooned by the rest of the pack as Joseph Dweba took up position at the back of the human caterpillar. Their walk to the try line inside the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium was short. To be fair, the Stormers spark came from the back. Early on Blommetjies, a fullback perennially in search of opportunity to

They charmed at the back and clobbered up front, stretching their unbeaten home run to 15 matches across three venues

put himself front and centre, audaciously slipped his marker when he collected the ball close to the touchline just inside the Stormers’ 22.

He evaded a second before offloading and, though the move did not yield points, it sparked the Stormers’ aspirations to attack.

Leyds provided the kindle for the Stormers’ third try when he determinedly collected a high ball. Later in the sweeping move, Blommetjies teased the defence before a one-handed pass found Ruhan Nel, who completed the formalities.

If that was a splendid team effort in the way the Stormers collectively exploited the wide open space, their bonus-point try stands as a tribute to the confidence, dash and dare of flyhalf Libbok.

By the time he received the ball, the Stormers had advantage from a scrum penalty but he kept stepping off his left foot, beating three defenders before sprinting for the line.

Dragons left-wing Jordan Williams scored a long-range intercept try to stem and then turn the tide.

● At Loftus last night, the Bulls ran in six unanswered tries, including a well-taken brace by emerging Bok winger Canan Moodie, to demolish Cardiff 45-9 during their one-sided URC match.