Due to two red cards issued to London Irish players, the Stormers secured a victory with bonus points.
Both offenders had little cause to complain about being given their marching orders.
The Stormers were in cruise control as they defeated the 13-man London Irish by a score of 28-14 with bonus points.
Ben Loader was shown a red card on 17 minutes for a head-on-head tackle on Manie Libbok, which brought an early end to the Stormers flyhalf’s afternoon and caused him to fail his subsequent head injury evaluation.
The Capetonians led 21-0 at halftime after scoring three unanswered tries, and replacement prop Ciaran Parker was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle on Deon Fourie two minutes into the second half.
John Dobson was likely dissatisfied with his team’s inability to capitalize on their two-man advantage, as a combination of poor kicking and forced passes resulted in them adding only one more try to their total while the tenacious hosts responded with two.
Nonetheless, the Stormers secured all five log points as they completed the double against the Exiles, whom they defeated 34-14 at home in the previous round, and improved their prospects of advancing to the Round of 16.
Next weekend, in the last round of group play, they will visit ASM Clermont Auvergne at DHL Stadium in an attempt to revenge their tournament-opening 24-14 setback on the road against the French club.
Stormers flight Angelo Davids missed the first try-scoring opportunity when he dropped Ruhan Nel’s pass in the eighth minute after the outside centre had charged down a kick and raced upfield.
Their forwards ensured that the visitors scored first in the 14th minute, when Argentine flank Juan Martin Gonzalez was penalized with a yellow card and a penalty try for collapsing a tremendous driving maul.
Loader was shown the red card four minutes later for his tackle on Libbok. The try was disallowed due to Libbok’s forward pass to his wing, which occurred after a spectacular break by Nel and finish by Davids.
Nel regained the spotlight when he intercepted Rory Jennings’ throw and raced in for a try, which was converted by Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who replaced the injured Libbok.
The teenage replacement flyhalf produced a moment of brilliance with a beautiful dink off his left foot that Suleiman Hartzenberg caught before beating Lucio Cinti to give the visitors a 21-point advantage at halftime.
Parker’s red card made matters even worse for London Irish, and Davids ultimately scored when he received a Dan du Plessis hack-ahead.
The Exiles never gave up and were rewarded with a penalty try around the fifty-minute mark, with Stormers captain Steven Kitshoff receiving a yellow card for collapsing the maul, and a second score by Danilo Fischetti in the last minute.
»London Irish are hampered by red cards in their loss against the Stormers«