URC quarterfinal result: Stormers blown away by Glasgow Warriors

The Stormers were blown away by an inspired Glasgow Warriors team, going down 27-10 in their United Rugby Championship (URC) quarterfinal at the Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday night.

It was a wet and windy encounter which made conditions tricky, especially for the kickers, but that proved to be the big difference as Glasgow scrumhalf George Horne slotted all five of his kicks at goal to be named man-of-the-match, while Stormers flyhalf Manie Libbok missed all four of his shots.

ALSO READ: Stormers v Glasgow Warriors quarterfinal – Three game breakers

In the end it was a fair result after a tight first half ended with the hosts leading 6-0, before the match burst to life in the final 21 minutes with a flurry of tries.

Successful penalties

In the first half with the wind at his back Horne slotted both his penalty attempts, while Libbok against a difficult wind missed his two kicks.

It was Libbok with the first chance to get on the board in the 17^th minute, but his wayward kick allowed Horne to put the hosts in front two minutes later as they went up the other end and earned an easy penalty to get on the board.

In the 22^nd minute Libbok had chance to level the scores, but from a much better position than his first kick his shot drifted wide to leave them scoreless.

Seven minutes later Glasgow won a scrum penalty in the Stormers half and Horne was on target again to double their lead.

At the end of the half the Stormers had a late chance to score a try after good play deep in Glasgow’s 22m, but they were penalised for obstruction while attacking on the tryline which allowed the hosts to clear and lead at the break.

The second half started in a similar vein to the first with tight play from both sides and in the 54^th minute the Stormers suffered a blow when captain Salmaan Moerat was yellow carded for a dangerous entry to a maul.

First try

But despite going down to 14 men the Stormers got some good go forward on attack, working their way into the Glasgow 22m, where some quick hands saw inside centre Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu put wing Ben Loader over for an unconverted try in the 59^th minute.

Straight from the kick-off Warrick Gelant spilled the ball, allowing Glasgow to attack with inside centre Sione Tuipulotu beating a host of players and offloading to wing Sebastian Cancelliere to power his way over for a converted score and 13-5 lead after 61 minutes.

Six minutes later the Stormers responded as a wild eight-minute spell saw a third try, with the visitors on attack in the hosts 22m and replacement scrumhalf Paul de Wet superbly sniped over to bring them back into the game.

Libbok ended his miserable night with the boot with a fourth straight miss which left them trailing 13-10 with 13 minutes left.

This allowed the hosts to manage play well in the closing moments and seal the win in style as replacement loose forward Henco Venter crashed over with six minutes remaining and replacement back Ross Thompson scored after the Stormers made a mess of trying to attack from behind their own tryline after the fulltime hooter.

Scorers

Glasgow Warriors: Tries – Sebastian Cancelliere, Henco Venter, Ross Thompson; Conversions – George Horne (3); Penalties – Horne (2)

Stormers: Tries – Ben Loader, Paul de Wet