Champions Cup result: Scrappy Stormers punish undisciplined London Irish

The Stormers punished an undisciplined performance from a 13-man London Irish to ease into the Champions Cup last 16 with a 28-14 win over the hosts at the Brentford Community Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

London Irish were handed two deserved red cards, the first in the 16^th minute to fullback Ben Loader who was upright in a tackle on Manie Libbock that ended in a head clash and the Stormers flyhalf going off with concussion.

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The second came in the 41^st minute as replacement prop Ciaran Parker, who had just come on the field at the break in a tactical change, flew into a ruck shoulder first and connected with a Stormers players head.

This allowed the Stormers to run in four tries to two, three of which came in the first half, but the visitors will be disappointed with a scrappy second half performance that didn’t allow them to power to what should have been a big win.

The Stormers first try came from a powerful maul in the 12^th minute, with it stopped illegally leading to a penalty try and yellow card to flank Juan Martin Gonzalez, with Loader going off four minutes later.

The second try then came in the 29^th minute from a superb intercept from outside centre Ruhan Nel, while their third in the 37^th was a perfect grubber from replacement flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to wing Suleiman Hartzenberg to brush off a tackle attempt and go over.

Bonus point

The second half then started with the red to Parker, followed by the Stormers scoring their bonus point in the 46^th minute after inside centre Dan du Plessis stripped the ball from a London Irish player and kicked the ball ahead twice, with wing Angelo Davids picking up and scoring.

Despite the odds being firmly stacked against them, London Irish then responded brilliantly with a penalty try in the 50^th minute as they powered a maul towards the line, with prop Steven Kitshoff bringing it down illegally, leading to a yellow card for his efforts.

The hosts then closed out the match with a 76^th minute try to prop Danilo Fischetti, and although the Stormers tried to have the final say, Nel butchered a chance to score his second by dropping the ball over the tryline with just seconds remaining.

In the end it was job done for the Stormers getting the bonus point win and progressing to the last 16, but they will need to look at what was a very poor and scrappy second half that they must improve on going forward.

Scorers

London Irish: Tries – Penalty Try, Danilo Fischetti; Conversion – Rory Jennings

Stormers: Tries – Penalty Try, Ruhan Nel, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Angelo Davids; Conversions – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (3)